According to the chairperson of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), Edgar Mageza, who represents the employees, workers are concerned about their privacy and adequate working gear. Mageza said employees have not received uniforms in more than two years and want GGM to provide them with new uniforms. He said employees also believed that they are being spied on by the municipality.

Mageza said the municipality’s vehicles were equipped with cameras and employees believe that it was to eavesdrop on conversations. “We need the cameras removed, we cannot work or talk freely anymore knowing that someone is listening to our conversations in the cars.
That is an invasion of our privacy, and we can’t allow that to happen,” he said. Mageza added that employees need to be equipped with enough working tools to be able to properly execute their work properly.

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“Right now, we don’t have proper working tools, let alone our uniforms which we last received about two years ago. There are times when one is forced to improvise at own cost in order to execute municipal work. This and other grievances are what led us to the situation that we’re in today,” he said. Meanwhile, the GGM spokesperson, Steve Mavunda, said the municipality’s management only became aware of the situation in the morning when workers downed tools. He said the

GGM is committed to working towards finding a solution to reach a common ground with the workers. “We have not had a chance to meet with the workers’ union and find out what the issue is, but we’re planning to meet them as soon as possible in order to look into the issues raised and see how we can meet them halfway. We believe that through dialogue the municipality will be able to reach a consensus with the employees and amicably resolve their issues,” he said on Thursday