adminCape Town — While small business owners fear the Numsa strike in the metal and engineering industry will force them to close, even big international companies are being affected.A number of Fin24 users — who want to remain anonymous, because they fear for their lives — gave a glimpse of what is going on at ground level.
A Fin24 user on the East Rand said during a Numsa march several of the windows of his engineering business were broken when stones were thrown by a mob.
Another Fin24 user, also on the East Rand, said his workers want to come to work, but they are too scared.
“Even when they do arrive for work, they run away in fear as soon as they see people from outside coming to intimidate them,” he said.
“I have seen the police just standing by and not doing anything to prevent intimidation. And even if the police see to it that those who want to work may enter, the workers run the risk of being attacked on their way home from work.”
This Fin24 user said many of the small businesses impacted by the strike, especially those employing fewer than 10 people, have been struggling to stay afloat even before the strike started.
He forsees that many of these will go under because of the strike, causing further job losses.
“My business as well as most of my clients’ businesses have come to a halt, not as a result of our workers striking, but as direct a result of “Numsa members” intimidating all the employees,” he said.
“We have been threatened with everything from ‘we will beat your employees’ to ‘we will burn down your factories’.”
He said he has seen the police do nothing when strikers force their way into private property and threaten people.
“As a small business owner I am powerless to do anything against such violence and disregard for the law,” he said.
Another Fin24 user from the East Rand, said he has also seen the police simply doing nothing.
“They are bankrupting all businesses and threatening to burn and hurt people who have nothing to do with Numsa,” he said.
“We have a family engineering business and we have been forced to close shop. We fear for our lives.”
Operations at the boat building factory of the international company Robertson and Caine in Woodstock, Cape Town, were affected yesterday morning because of the strike.
A Fin24 user saw how some workers had to “run for their lives” due to intimidation. Some people were injured in the process.
Robertson and Caine are manufacturers of the award-winning Leopard catamaran range. The boat building industry is regarded as one with great export potential for the Western Cape.
Fin24 contacted Robertson and Caine, but a spokesperson said the company “cannot comment at this stage”. — Fin24
derick.khumalo