JOHANNESBURG, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Up to 60,000 members of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) continued their strike in South Africa's major cities on Tuesday, overturning dustbins and setting refuse alight.

In some towns which are trying to spruce themselves up ahead of the FIFA World Cup, strikers overturned dustbins.

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) failed in its labor court bid to prohibit the industrial action. Its application was withdrawn and SALGA ordered to carry the strikers' costs of opposing the application.

In Port Elizabeth, a FIFA World Cup host city on South Africa' s east coast, a group of SAMWU members overturned dustbins and scattered litter around the municipal office.

However, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported that police kept their distance as there was no damage to property.

In Durban, another FIFA World Cup host city further north on South Africa's east coast, about 30 people picketed outside the city hall,dressed in red union t-shirts, dancing and singing with placards cannot afford to pay for their water and electricity, salaries not affording" and "municipalities must pay same salaries for grades."

They marched into the city's treasury department and demanded people in the building stop working, but a security guard closed the doors, leaving them singing outside.

According to SAPA, about 12,000 people are expected at Durban's SAMWU march, planned for Thursday.

In Kimberley in South Africa's Northern Cape province, municipal spokesman Sello Matsie said streets were again strewn with litter and other services such as meter reading and vehicle registration services disrupted.

Northern Cape Samwu provincial secretary Duma Lebakeng said after handing over a memorandum at the municipality refuse was set alight before police put out the fire.

In South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg, refuse was not collected, and commuters who used council buses had to make alternative arrangements.

SAPA reported that the strike is a bid by Samwu to resolve seven-year negotiations to make middle and lower income municipal workers' salaries market related.