WATCH: Unions set the record straight about ‘striking’ workers

“We are tired of being labelled as not wanting to work.”

These were the words of disgruntled IMATU union representative, Sifiso Mkhwanazi, at a press conference this morning, called by the unions to present the community with their side of the story regarding the ongoing municipal strikes.

“Everytime we call a meeting, it gets blown out of proportion and they say we are on strike,” he continued.

The matter of two municipal workers who were killed on duty was raised at the meeting. The first of which was a worker named Dlamini who fell to his death in May of 2014. The second worker was killed while working on a power cable in June of 2015. No report was given regarding these incidents as, according to the union representatives, AbaQulusi Municipality currently has no safety officer.

Another worker, who was present at the meeting, recalled how he suffered severe burns to both arms while working at a substation and no one was trained in first aid to assist him until the ambulance arrived.

“It feels like our employers just don’t care,” said Mkhwanazi. “Who will be the next victim?”

SAMWU representative, Khulekani Dlamini, brought to light the matter of the non-functioning Local Labour Forum due to a lack of attendance by the employer component.

“There is no correct constitutional platform to discuss issues. This also affects the running of the municipality,” he asserted.

Dlamini also discussed wasteful expenditure and mismanagement by the municipality, using an example of an employment discrepancy which allegedly took place last year. He explained how two people were employed for the same post and were both being paid to fill the post.

“Our municipality does not have that skill, that quality, that vision to make sure that when they do things, they do them correctly,” he said. “There’s negligence all over. When they take a thing, they take it as their mandate and then they don’t give a damn at the end of the day.”

According to the union representatives, non-payment to suppliers has been a major problem as well.
Two months ago, two trucks were sent to Durban to fetch tar for filling potholes. Those trucks were sent back to AbaQulusi empty. It is believed that the suppliers refused to supply the tar as they were owed payment by the municipality. And they’re not the only ones…

Many companies, from AbaQulusi and beyond, are battling to get payment out of the municipality.

“Invoices are submitted, but not attended to,” stated Dlamini. “Perhaps their advisors are not well versed…” he adds with a slight smirk.

Mkhwanazi added that, because the municipality could not afford tar, desperation had led workers from the Department of Roadworks and Sanitation to take the “maak ‘n plan” approach and fill potholes with sand in the heavily pothole scarred President Street area.

The water crisis and the municipality’s response to it, or lack thereof was also brought to the table.

“Yes, we are facing a drought nationally, as has been eluded to,” affirms Mkhwanazi. “But really… AbaQulusi – it seems like they were not aware, because the issue of drought has been seen coming for ages, but actually nobody had a plan to say ‘how are we going to go about taking care of that?’ It’s like they just wake up one morning and the dams are dry. But in fact, it was not the case…”

Mkhwanazi also voiced his concerns regarding the rumours that nothing would change until after the elections in August.

“From the look of things,” he proclaimed, “the Acting MM might continue to remain in office until after the elections. Nothing will be done until then.”

It was also mentioned that the general feeling was that most councillors did not want a new Municipal Manager and that even COGTA was allegedly backing Mnikathi, who the union representatives described as “well connected.”

“We as employees are known as those kind of employees ‘who do not want to work.’ But actually we are forced to try to engage with our employer outside the legitimate structure.”

Mkhwanazi further addressed the matter of the reasoning behind the so-called strike, revealing that attempts to meet with the Acting Municipal Manager, AB Mnikathi have proved fruitless. Promises for interrupted meetings to be reconvened never materialised.

“Not so long ago, the council took a decision that the employees have to be charged for not being on their site from April 14 to April 20. There will be a no work, no pay principle applied. So, you know, whenever they try to do that, then we will be up in arms again.”

The overall feeling of those present at the conference was that councillors were divided and were in the process of playing “political games” within the municipal structures. It was suggested that some councillors have “reasons” to keep Mnikathi on as the Acting MM, despite demands that she step down, her term as Acting MM having lapsed already.

“Our argument is very clear. You invited us to come to the meeting. We came. We sat with you. The meeting could not finish because you had other business to attend to. Then you promised that the meeting would be reconvened the following day. The following day you were nowhere to be found… Now you tell the community we are on strike.”

According to Mkhwanazi, AbaQulusi Spokesperson, Arnold Ramodibe, among other municipal officials, was invited to attend the press conference, but was not present.

“The problem is about service delivery. We need the community to to know that we are desperate. We want to service them as we are getting paid to. But we cannot do that because there is no political will in this municipality to help them. If the politicians of this municipality care about them, they would have appointed another Municipal Manager, so that the municipality would be back on track and everything would be back to normality.”

Some of the questions that remain unanswered have union reps and workers frustrated. One such question is that, if the Acting Municipal Manager has no authority, why are they keeping her on? What is the use of having meetings if no one is available to authorise? When will the MEC intervene?

“The last option that we have is to go to the street in the form of a march on May 27 . We know that we might find it very difficult, but we are following all the correct procedures to apply for a march. If they deny us our right to go to the street, we will take them to court. We need to do that because we want to tell the community what’s going on, so that we can not be seen as the people who dont want to service them…”

“We are running short of options.” he added. “Our memorandum must be received by COGTA.”

“We need somebody who can keep our municipality up and running. No coalition. Let the best party win. And let’s get service delivery back on track.”

I think only a miracle can help us through this one,” he concluded.