DA calls on Municipal manager to resign

The open letter states as follows:

It would be important for us to spell out the context at which this letter is written to you.

It is with sadness that we acknowledge there has been no formally submitted wrong-doing on your part as the municipal manager, and that to date no proof has been submitted to substantiate any wrong-doing on your part.

In the ordinary council sitting of January 2022 when council noted the special item on the employees’ request to benchmark their salaries, as a result to the municipal striking issues, the DA pointed out that we need to acknowledge the fact that the employer – employee relationship has been compromised, and that the staff that you lead have no confidence in you and your ability to maintain a civil working relationship with them.

And it is because of that that we find ourselves as council and the municipality as a whole, having to watch as the employees continuously take their frustrations which are predominantly employer – employee issues to the streets.

Its ultimately affecting all of the residents of Steve Tshwete local municipality irrespective of colour and creed or even where you are situated. We are all affected immensely.

So it is with that in mind that we as the DA would like to urge you to take it upon yourself to do what is best for the residents of this town and in so doing, not as an acknowledgement to or admittance of any wrong doing on your part, but it would be affording a platform for the employees to be able to talk to us as a council and to find ways to amicably resolve the tensions between yourself as the head of administration and the employees as the workforce that ultimately makes sure that our town is consistently functioning adequately.

It is with that in mind that we as the DA would like to urge you to step down and take voluntary leave for the remainder of your contract so that Council can appoint an Acting MM as an attempt to create a platform for the employees to lodge their disputes and find resolution to their grievances within the context of our laws in South Africa and to make amends to the damage that is already there between the employer which is yourself as the
head of administration and the employees.

The decision would be in the best interest of our town as we find ourselves at a standstill and where we find ourselves being held captive.

At the core of the issue it is the unhappiness of the employees and the lack of faith in the system that they feel is rigged against them.

We fully acknowledge the strike is illegal and steps will be taken to address that. Action has to be taken we cannot allow for lawlessness to continue to take place.

But with that in mind we would like to urge you to think about the future of Middleburg as a whole and to think about the request that you step aside as a one of many positive actions that we can take to amicably resolve the immediate tensions that we find ourselves under as a town.