SAMWU to challenge Ugu District Municipality’s decision to dismiss 42 employees

31 January 2020

SAMWU to challenge Ugu District Municipality’s decision to dismiss 42 employees

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Kwa Zulu Natal province has noted with grave concern the ill-conceived decision by the Ugu District Municipality to dismiss 42 employees. Despite the prevailing water challenges faced by the municipality, management saw fit to dismiss workers instead of focusing on ensuring that residents of Ugu have running water.

We are of the view that the Municipal Management had jumped the gun in reaching such a harsh decision which will have ripple effects not only on the employees but also on those who are dependent on them including compromising service delivery.

Instead of addressing genuine issues raised by workers in the municipality, the municipal management resorted to intimidation and scare tactics by dismissing workers hoping that the remaining employees would no longer make noise about the corruption and looting of municipal coffers.

We will therefore be exhausting all legal avenues at our disposal to ensure that these workers return to work with immediate effect. We will also be writing to President Cyril Ramaphosa to authorize the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to investigate the rampant corruption in the municipality. We will be requesting a proclamation that deals with all current and previous entered by the municipality with private companies.

As SAMWU, we are interested in seeing municipalities which are free from corruption and as such we believe that current status quo at the Ugu District Municipality in not in line with the constitutional mandate of municipalities, being the delivery of services. The evident corruption at Ugu District Municipality has affected the municipality’s ability to deliver these much-needed services to residents.

Issued by SAMWU Kwa Zulu Natal

Jaycee Ncanana
Provincial Secretary
072 950 5060