#WaterCrisis: ‘Talk, before there is bloodshed” – Willies Mchunu
The premier added that if the stand off between Ugu and its employees was not resolved soon, province may be forced to bring in the army.
KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu has cautioned both Ugu management and workers belonging to the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) about the ‘negative implications’ they may cause the South Coast if they fail to put aside their differences.
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The coast has been held to ransom by striking union members for almost two weeks. Hospitals, schools and the elderly have been particularly hard hit.
Mr Mchunu is currently addressing a meeting between various community stakeholders, ratepayers, residents, Samwu members and Ugu management at the Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre in Gamalakhe.
“If you don’t put aside your differences people are going to die because you are robbing them of their basic human right,” he said.
The premier added that if the stand off between Ugu and its employees was not resolved soon, province may be forced to bring in the army and a full police force which, he said, “could result in bloodshed”.
“Both Ugu and its employees have conditions for the meeting to take place, and neither are willing to put aside those conditions. Conditions must be part of the talks, not reasons for not talking. All conflicts are resolved through dialogue.”
Mr Mchunu said Province was doing all it can, and has apologised to all those affected by the water outage. He also promised to get both Ugu and the union to sit down and talk through their respective issues in order to bring the stalemate to an end.
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MEC for Human settlements Ravi Pillay added the water crisis was ‘very bad for tourism’ and must be resolved.
A meeting will take place between Ugu, Samwu and the premier later today.
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