Work resumed in Nyandeni local municipality in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday after a two-day strike by angry municipal employees which brought services to a halt this week.
According to the SA Municipal Workers’ Union deputy chair in Nyandeni, Mvuzo Mxenge, workers had decided to down tools over their unhappiness that several of their demands had not been met by municipality managers.
Among their demands was the compensation of workers who had been injured on duty as well as overtime payments for employees who had worked during the festive season.
“Some people have been waiting for years for compensation after sustaining injuries while at work,” Mxenge said. “We also have people who worked when the municipality closed for December, and some in law enforcement, but have not yet been paid.”
He said the workers had forwarded their demands to municipal manager Silulami Poswa and gave him seven days to respond. But after 14 days, he had failed to do so, leading to the two-day strike.
In their memorandum of demands shown to the Dispatch, the employees want:
- management to stop taking unilateral decision on matters affecting workers, including the restructuring process in the municipality;
- the municipality to install backup generators at construction sites “to eradicate inhumane working conditions during electricity and water interruptions”;
- managers to consider insourcing all debt collection, security services and plant hire services instead of using private service providers;
- the municipality to set aside municipal sites for municipal workers in Nyandeni during municipal property auctions; and
- the implementation of a consistent and uniform allocation of benefits for employees in similar categories of work.
The employer [municipality] upholds the principle of consultation in all matters, especially on labour issues as stipulated in the organisational right agreement
— Silulami Poswa, municipal manager
Mxenge confirmed meeting Nyandeni mayor Viwe Ndamase and Poswa on Tuesday, which had led to their decision to temporarily suspend their strike on Wednesday.
In response, Poswa has requested the names of all the employees owed overtime pay for working during the festive season. He said the municipality was dealing with the 18 cases of municipal employees who had been injured on duty over the years.
“A report was previously presented to the local labour forum,” he said. “The employer [municipality] upholds the principle of consultation in all matters, especially on labour issues as stipulated in the organisational right agreement.”
He said a backup generator for Ngqeleni had already been delivered and was being installed. Meanwhile, spare parts for the generator at the traffic department had also been delivered and was ready for installation.
“Other sites are also under consideration.”
But he said the issue of insourcing some municipal services was not necessarily a labour relations matter. Neither was the selling or auctioning off of some municipal properties; rather it was municipal policy, Poswa said.
In January the municipality announced a 50% discount on outstanding municipal accounts in a bid to recover millions of rand owed by ratepayers, business owners and government departments. At the time, Ndamase said the initiative was aimed at fostering a culture of payment for municipal services and rates.
He said the rural Eastern Cape municipality, which includes the towns of Libode and Ngqeleni, was owed:
- more than R29.3m by households;
- more than R10.2m by businesses; and
- R32m by government departments.
“This incentive scheme will have a positive impact on the municipality’s balance sheet by converting the long-outstanding debtors,” Ndamase said on Tuesday.
We have been experiencing a culture of nonpayment, hence this approach to offer incentives to bring accounts up to date.
— Viwe Ndamase, Nyandeni mayor
He said though some of the debt was fairly old, it was still money due to the municipality.
“Yes, we have been experiencing a culture of nonpayment, hence this approach to offer incentives to bring accounts up to date.”
Last year the Nyandeni council announced it had decided to sell or lease about 85 municipal residential sites to help stop civil servants from having to travel daily from Mthatha to work in Libode. A land valuer had subsequently been appointed to assess the market value of each site. The initiative formed part of the municipality’s land-disposal policy.
“This initiative also seeks to bridge the gap between affluent individuals and the middle-income group, many of whom struggle to qualify for bank-financed housing loans and simultaneously do not qualify for the government’s low-cost housing subsidies, the municipality said.
Though the average market value of some of the sites was estimated at between R43,000 and R48,000, the actual price would be based on size and zoning.
The municipality had earmarked Libode’s Extension 6 residential area, on the outskirts of the town, for development as a mixed-use area, comprising residential, commercial and retail components.
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