Umdoni addresses labour issues

Last week marked the second week of the illegal work stoppage at Umdoni Local Municipality, which has halted municipal services.

It is believed that the workers’ demands are regarding salaries and job evaluation. Attempts to contact the workers’ union were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.

Of most concern is the lack of refuse removal, which has left residents dealing with heaps of rubbish outside homes and businesses.

The municipality noted that this disruption has caused an unwarranted inconvenience to residents and the business community.

These actions were condemned as they are an infringement on the communities’ constitutional rights and undermine service delivery.

“To avert the situation and resume operations, senior management has continuously engaged with the labour representatives in various official platforms, which have resulted in a stalemate,” said mayor Mbali Cele-Luthuli.

“Engagements are ongoing, and we anticipate that we will find a solution that is beneficial to all parties involved to ensure we resume services.”

The municipality would also like to address the issue of the current acting municipal manager, Nhlakanipho Geoffery Kumalo.

Kumalo is still actively fulfilling his employment contract as the acting municipal manager and was present at the municipality’s executive committee and special council meetings held last week.

“His contract ends on April 5, and council has submitted a recommendation to the office of the MEC for Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Rev Thulasizwe Buthelezi, to have his acting contract extended,” said Cele-Luthuli.

She also advises union representatives to refrain from making unfounded statements about the affairs of the municipality, with a view to advance their own agendas.

“Such unscrupulous behaviour is a violation of the employee code of conduct and seeks to tarnish the reputation of this institution and its leadership.”

The DA in Umdoni said that it will write to the Public Protector, Department of Environmental Affairs as well as lay an official complaint with the South African Human Right Commission over the Umdoni crisis that continues to ‘cripple’ services.

Edwin Baptie (MP, DA Ugu north constituency head) said that this crisis has resulted in litter piling up in towns and even a protest in Umzinto last week, where residents from informal settlements demanded proper sanitation services.

“Less than a year ago, the ANC leadership allowed the former municipal manager, Thabisile Ndlela, to resign in order to avoid sanctions for her conduct in the municipality’s demise. An acting municipal manager was employed to fill the gap, and Buthelezi intervened with a ‘soft’ option under Section 154 of the constitution,” explained Baptie.

“He assigned a local government expert to the municipality with the express purpose to provide guidance and direction to the council and management. True to form, the leadership and its cadres did their best to undermine his intervention by simply ignoring the direction and advice given. The response from Buthelezi is to appoint a second expert to fulfil the same role.”

Baptie stated that today, Umdoni is in the same position it was in almost a year ago with no constructive way forward.

Umdoni informs the public that it is in the process of finding long-term solutions to the recurring labour issues.

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