The Witness

The Witness: "Strikers won’t back down"
MSUNDUZI municipal workers in the water, electricity, traffic and waste departments have vowed to continue their strike over the payment of overtime and other concerns.

So if you have put your rubbish out and are hoping it will be taken away today, chances are it won’t be.

Acting municipal manager Roy Bridgmohan yesterday told The Witness that the municipality’s management committee will meet Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo this morning in an attempt to plot the way forward.

“But we will not go back on our decision [not to pay the overtime].”

When asked about contingency plans for the collection of rubbish, Bridgmohan referred The Witness to the deputy municipal manager for community services, Zwe Hulane, who had already êthe reporter to Bridgmohan for comment.

Bridgmohan complained that his rubbish has also not been collected. He said he had been out of town for the weekend and was driving and could not say any more to The Witness.

An employee who has served the municipality for more than 20 years said the strikers won’t back down until their concerns are attended to. The employee, who asked not to be named, said it is disappointing that the Local Government Department has not dealt with the municipality long after a memorandum detailing the “burning issues” of financial mismanagement and unfair labour practices by municipal officials was sent to the department in March last year.

“They have been made aware of the crisis last year. All we want is for them to remove the mayor and the municipal manager because they are failing not only the employees, but also the ratepayers,” said the employee.

“During the old order you never heard of this municipality running out of money, but in a democracy it happens.”

On Thursday, the police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protesting workers outside the city hall.

The employee said the strike is not only about overtime payment, but also about the misappropriation of municipal funds and the lack of action against the culprits.

“We want the ruling party to tell us what is being done to sort this mess out. We can’t go on like this while knowing what and where the problem is,” he said.

Local Government MEC Nomsa Dube said she was not aware of Thursday’s protest. “We are aware of the concerns raised by the municipal workers and we are working on addressing them. We will explain to them the steps taken in dealing with the matter, and this will be done through their representatives,” said Dube.

The secretary of the Msunduzi Shop Stewards’ Council, Themba Lyons, said they have given the municipality 48 hours’ notice that members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union will be embarking on an indefinite strike.


MSUNDUZI municipal workers in the water, electricity, traffic and waste departments have vowed to continue their strike over the payment of overtime and other concerns.

So if you have put your rubbish out and are hoping it will be taken away today, chances are it won’t be.

Acting municipal manager Roy Bridgmohan yesterday told The Witness that the municipality’s management committee will meet Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo this morning in an attempt to plot the way forward.

“But we will not go back on our decision [not to pay the overtime].”

When asked about contingency plans for the collection of rubbish, Bridgmohan referred The Witness to the deputy municipal manager for community services, Zwe Hulane, who had already êthe reporter to Bridgmohan for comment.

Bridgmohan complained that his rubbish has also not been collected. He said he had been out of town for the weekend and was driving and could not say any more to The Witness.

An employee who has served the municipality for more than 20 years said the strikers won’t back down until their concerns are attended to. The employee, who asked not to be named, said it is disappointing that the Local Government Department has not dealt with the municipality long after a memorandum detailing the “burning issues” of financial mismanagement and unfair labour practices by municipal officials was sent to the department in March last year.

“They have been made aware of the crisis last year. All we want is for them to remove the mayor and the municipal manager because they are failing not only the employees, but also the ratepayers,” said the employee.

“During the old order you never heard of this municipality running out of money, but in a democracy it happens.”

On Thursday, the police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protesting workers outside the city hall.

The employee said the strike is not only about overtime payment, but also about the misappropriation of municipal funds and the lack of action against the culprits.

“We want the ruling party to tell us what is being done to sort this mess out. We can’t go on like this while knowing what and where the problem is,” he said.

Local Government MEC Nomsa Dube said she was not aware of Thursday’s protest. “We are aware of the concerns raised by the municipal workers and we are working on addressing them. We will explain to them the steps taken in dealing with the matter, and this will be done through their representatives,” said Dube.

The secretary of the Msunduzi Shop Stewards’ Council, Themba Lyons, said they have given the municipality 48 hours’ notice that members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union will be embarking on an indefinite strike.

The Witness

The Witness: "Fed up with all the filth"
BUSINESSES in the city are angered by the filth that has engulfed pavements in front of their establishments and have called on the Msunduzi Municipality management, councillors and employees to reach a compromise and get on with the cleaning of the city.

Garbage has piled up since the employees in the waste management, traffic and electricity divisions downed tools last Wednesday.

Virtually every street in the central business district has piles of uncollected rubbish, and in some streets plastic, cardboard boxes, paper and bottles lie strewn on pavements and streets and in gutters. Residential suburbs have piles of rubbish bags still uncollected.

The street with the most rubbish seems to be Church Street. Refuse lies scattered all along the street, even blocking some stormwater drains.

Irate businesses and residents said they are being held to ransom by the municipality while the services that they pay for are being abandoned.

“This is ridiculous. We are losing customers because of the filth in front of the business,” said John Nkwanyana of Champion Chicken in Church Street.

Dr Sibusiso Simelane, one of the owners of the Mpilenhle Medical Centre in Church Street, said the rubbish is a disturbance.

“The town is dirty … I hope they work out their differences.”

A man who owns a TV repair shop said there are rats in his establishment and they are chewing his cables.

Commuters and informal traders at the Market Square taxi rank said the rubbish at the entrance is stinking badly and affecting their health.

But municipal employees are adamant that they will not halt their protest and start cleaning the city unless their call for the implementation of Section 139 of the Constitution — under which the municipality can be put under administration — is heeded.

Today they will embark on a massive march and will hand over their memorandum of grievances to Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube at the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.

Sakhile Ngcobo, deputy chairman of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union in Pietermaritzburg, confirmed that the march will include employees from all of the municipality’s divisions.

He said that although the marchers will insist on receiving their overtime payments, chief among their demands is for Dube to dissolve the council’s executive committee (Exco) and take over the running of the municipality.

Marchers who had gathered in Havelock Road yesterday told The Witness that they want the municipality to be “cleansed” of all corruption and that the process must begin with dissolving Exco.

At a special Exco meeting yesterday afternoon, it was resolved that the issue of overtime payments should be considered for those who have worked legal overtime.

Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo said she has told the MEC that it is unfair for workers who were authorised to work overtime to be penalised by not being paid.

She said the managers who authorised the overtime should pay the workers.