13 arrested in eThekwini municipality strike in court for public violence

Thirteen eThekwini municipal employees will remain in custody until their bail application next week while the state verifies their background.

The employees were arrested on Monday outside municipal offices on Electron Road, where they were allegedly part of a group of more than 1,000 who burnt trees, forced other municipal employees out of offices and damaged the gate in the wildcat strike.

They appeared briefly in the Durban magistrate's court on Wednesday on charges of public violence and tampering and damaging infrastructure.

Prosecutor Calvin Govender asked for the matter to be adjourned for the state to profile and verify the background of the accused.

Defence lawyer Xolani Mthembu did not oppose the state’s request but pointed out the accused had already been in custody for two days and had provided their details.

Govender said their request was to confirm if all the accused were municipal workers.

“The state is aware they have been detained for the past two days but because of the chaos [in the strike] the state needs to determine whether they were all employed by eThekwini municipality,” he said.

The state asked for the matter to be set down for next week with the formal bail application.

The accused were remanded until their bail application on March 13 and 14, where the state will oppose bail.

The South African Municipal Workers' Union confirmed the 13 accused belong to their union but refused to comment after Wednesday's proceedings.

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