“Mayor Mashaba is sympathetic and cooperative. He is definitely willing to resolve our matter,” these were the words of Stena Molepo, who is one of the 280 employees who claim to have been dismissed unfairly by the then-Midrand Municipal Council.
Molepo and his coworkers were dismissed in 1994 and allege to have not been paid their pension payout monies. Since their dismissal, the sacked employees have been fighting to get their jobs back or at least their pension money paid out.
They were fired for allegedly taking part in an illegal strike.
Molepo labelled former City of Joburg Mayor, Parks Tau as an unfortunate ANC leader. “He was doing the opposite of what our forefathers fought for and a complete opposite of what the ANC wanted. It’s unfortunate to have had him as a mayor, but that is all in the past. He is now in opposition benches, right where he belongs,” Molepo explained.
READ: ANC calls for Mashaba to step down
He highlighted that they had previously submitted two memorandums to Tau’s office and never got any positive response from him, alleging that the former mayor never even acknowledged them.
Molpeo also dismissed earlier media reports that suggested that they were planning to march to Mayor Mashaba’s office. “We can’t march to someone’s office like Mayor Mashaba. He is very cooperative and willing to help us.”
Molepo highlighted that they last had a meeting with Mayor Mashaba on 9 June, pointing out that this proves the political will to resolve their dispute which has been dragging on since 1994.
He also mentioned that there is an integrity report at Mashaba’s office, which was commissioned by the Mayor himself. “We are giving him time to attend to it and we believe he will come up with a resolution that will be fair for all parties involved.”
This is a developing story, more details will follow.
