SAMWU declares George Municipality a special project

06 October 2022

SAMWU declares George Municipality a special project

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Western Cape Province is dismayed by the autocratic management style by the administration of George Municipality. SAMWU believes that the vindictive and wrongful purging of our members is driven by an agenda of malicious intent. These frivolous and vexatious disciplinary matters brought against our members is a serious attempt to collapse service delivery for the community at large. It is clear these disciplinary processes are politically motivated.

SAMWU is of the opinion that the vindictive, frivolous, and vexatious actions by the MM and her handlers have a very strong potential of destabilizing the administration in terms of service delivery and disregarding the daily bread and butter issues of workers. Ever since the new administration of the municipality came in, there have been a lot of challenges. It looks like the focus and mandate of Council is to target and purge staff members who are part of their hit list. Workers are no longer certain about their future and job security. Employees are daily living in fear, and some are leaving the organization through resignations.

The Municipal Manager (Dr Michel Gratz) is challenging sanctions of disciplinary outcomes that are not in accordance with her wishes of dismissing people of colour at a very fast pace. She has embarked on an uncompromising attack on Directors of colour. To date, she has successfully dealt with four (4) directors and is busy with the fifth one to revert to a pure Lilly White administration. George Municipality is currently being managed with disciplinary actions against poor workers with no vision to foster and strive for sound labour relations, but harsh disciplinary measures in the workplace. To SAMWU this is nothing less than a DA Apartheid regime agenda.

The municipal council is wasting ratepayers’ money on Smart Ryk Consultants who were unlawfully appointed to target staff members on their hit list. SAMWU will never be silenced by tendencies that seek to collapse the administration of the municipality putting the workers in a worse position. This is the same Council that has exploited EPWP workers in various departments performing core functions with slavery wages, failed to pay workers Covid-19 compensation and neglected to provide proper PPE to workers and deal with the absorption of temporal staff who must be appointed permanently.

SAMWU has reported irregularities pertaining to recruitment and selection processes for investigation and the employer is playing delaying tactics. The MM has proven to be involved in mal administrative practices that has a negative impact on improved service delivery to the greater community of George. Because of the passion that SAMWU have for exposing fraud and corruption, the George municipality has been declared a special project. There are other municipalities who are also special projects like Knysna, Kannaland, Mossel Bay, Laingsburg, West Coast District, Bitou (Plett), Beaufort West, Cederberg, etcetera, but our priority is George Municipality.

Lastly, SAMWU demand for the immediate suspension of the MM pending investigation into serious allegations of misconduct, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. We can only hope that MEC Anton Bredell does the right thing to save George Municipality from the jaws of an arrogant, vindictive and autocratic MM who has a clear intention to collapse the administration of George Municipality, by talking sense into the George Council.

Issued by SAMWU Western Cape

John Mcanjana
Provincial Secretary
073 644 9580 / 064 628 0000

or

Peter Africa
Provincial Organiser
061 593 9016