While acknowledging that the Constitution protects the right to engage in industrial action, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) has called on its social partners to consider introducing limitations on industrial action to preserve the rule of law and the national economic interest.

“Sacci is outraged by the general lawlessness, property damage and violence that have occurred during several recent and ongoing strikes. Labour must be held accountable for these acts, which undermine economic activity and drastically infringe on the fundamental rights of workers and employers.

“The extent of damage wrought upon communities and economic growth and the attendant criminality seriously brings into question whether open-ended industrial action remains appropriate,” Sacci CEO Neren Rau said in a statement on Wednesday.

He added that three “high-profile” incidents had recently illustrated the extent to which violence and property damage had become endemic to industrial action.

Referencing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union-led strike in the platinum sector, Neren asserted that reports of violence and intimidation against nonstriking workers had recently been amplified by “horrific” reports of the murder and mutilation of workers in the area.

In the Eastern Cape, freight logistics group Transnet had recently “resorted” to filing a court order against striking employees after homes and vehicles belonging to nonstriking employees of the Ngqura container terminal were torched.

Rau added that there had also been reports of property damage and arson committed against sugarcane plantations during an ongoing sugar sector strike by the Food and Allied Workers Union members.

“These behaviours are a direct challenge to the continued stability of South Africa as a constitutional democracy and the investment climate is already strained owing to concerns over the cost and continuity of electricity supply. There is unlikely to be much accommodation for the impact of protracted labour protest activity in the context of investor sentiment,” he cautioned.