Striking parliamentary staff were locked out of the legislature on Wednesday but kept up a noisy protest outside the gates where a heavy police contingent stood guard.

After they had disrupted the parliamentary schedule on Tuesday, management decided to prevent all but the most essential staff who form part of the National Education, Health and Education Workers’ (Nehawu) protracted strike from entering the premises.

Hence scores of workers arrived to find their names on a list of people barred from entry to Parliament which had asked police to enforce an interdict which prevents protesting in the precinct.

“This is wrong. We came to work but found ourselves locked out,” said National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) chairperson for the Parliament branch, Sthembiso Temba.

“The reason we are in this state is because of the incapacity of the management of Parliament.”

Committee meetings went ahead as scheduled, as did a 10am sitting of the National Assembly.

However, the opposition objected to a decision to bar people from entering the public gallery, saying this was undemocratic.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) accused Parliament of implementing “a state of emergency” and repeatedly rose to express solidarity with the strikers.

EFF MP Godrich Gardee called on Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli to suspend the sitting until the labour dispute had been resolved.

“No honourable Gardee, I will not suspend the sitting, we are continuing with our work,” Tsenoli replied.

Parliament is under pressure to sign off on a raft of bills before the final term of the year ends and has extended it to December 3 to make up for time lost due to the strike.

On Tuesday, the striking staff, who are demanding, among others, better performance bonuses based on their annual salary packages, disrupted committee meetings and two sittings of the National Assembly, forcing MPs to halt their work.

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete later said that police would be called in to prevent any further disruptions to the business of Parliament.