Ekurhuleni municipality says overtime cuts not limited to EMPD

JOHANNESBURG - The Ekurhuleni Municipality has hit back at striking metro police in the city after a decision to down tools caused major traffic disruptions on Wednesday morning.

Metro police took to the streets in protest over frustrations that their overtime hours were being slashed from 80 to 16 hours in a decision made in February.

ALSO READ: EMPD officers who participated in illegal strike to face consequences, says Ekurhuleni metro

Despite frustrations, the City of Ekurhuleni said the decision was not limited to metro police.

Ekurhuleni Mayor Doctor Xhakaza is expected to address the matter with the metro police on Thursday.

City spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, said a further discussion on these issues would be tabled at the council's local labour forum early in April.

"The city introduced austerity measures in terms of overtime because we must manage overtime. You can't be running a business and you have a blank cheque on issues of overtime, you might run out of business if you do that so the issue was actually put across every department in the city. It was introduced throughout the city."