Mayor speaks to community
On Saturday, Emadlangeni Mayor, Joe Zikhali addressed the community on some of the issues.
Yet another incident has caused concern from municipal officials of Emadlangeni Municipality.
Following the removal of members of South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) from the municipality last month, most recently, during an official sitting of members of SAMWU, on April 17, armed guards attended the meeting, allegedly on behalf of municipal management, and attempted to make a video recording of the proceedings.
This act, according to municipal officials, further exacerbated the growing gap between workers and management of the municipality.
“There is serious tension between workers and management. They have called in bodyguards, who treat us like hooligans, and the workers are too intimidated to raise their issues of dissatisfaction,” said a municipal worker who asked to remain anonymous.
Furthermore, workers felt the issues they had raised were not being addressed by municipal management, and questioned the fact that there had been no sitting of the Local Labour Forum since October 2014.
Allegedly, the municipality had effectively silenced SAMWU.
“The union is not invited to be part of the recruitment processes, management is doing all short-listing and interviewing without following recruitment processes. There is no transparency in the municipality,” alleged the source.
On Saturday, Emadlangeni Mayor, Joe Zikhali addressed the community on some of the issues.
Cllr Zikhali was unable to provide proper feedback on projects and concerns that had been brought to his attention three years ago.
Speaking on the presence of security personnel at the municipality Cllr Zikhali said: “There are internal problems and threats against municipal officials and councillors.” He explained these issues necessitated increased security measures.
On the positive side, Cllr Zikhali said planned developments of a recycling plant would soon get under way.
He also touched on the development of Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) houses.
He had applied to the province for funding, as it could not be obtained from either the local or district municipality.
Following the mayor’s address, a question and answer session was held.
However, the mayor was unable to provide answers to many questions, admitting he first had to consult municipal officials. He promised the community he would bring these officials to the next community meeting he hosts.
A resident at the function, who asked not to be named, said: “Cllr Zikhali is a good man. He has big ideas and he is smart. But we are tired of promises, and there is so much wrong with the municipality. We feel now he is making empty promises.”
