THE eThekwini Municipality plans to intensify security for municipal officials and contractors from Monday, 1 February after many have been attacked on the job. It is alleged that aggressive groups of contractors are upset that they have been overlooked for the contracts.
This is one of the steps the city will be taking to address the challenges resulting in the interruption of services to residents.
“A group had threatened municipal staff as they tried to carry out their duties. Some private subcontractors had also been affected because they had been ordered to stop work,” said Tozi Mthethwa, head of the municipality’s communications department.
A municipal electricity contractor, who wishes to remain anonymous, said on Wednesday, 3 February he was working in the Durban area under police guard when he received a call from his supervisor, saying someone in the electricity department had passed on information to him from a separate group of contractors that they know he is working and that they know who he is and if he doesn’t stop working immediately they will find out where he lives and come ‘visit’ him at home.
“So with all the intimidation and death threats, I knew what they meant. I packed up, but unfortunately I was busy on a big job and had to leave everyone without electricity, for which I do apologise to everyone affected,” he said.
He has not returned to work since the incident.
Due to the threats and interruption of services, some residents have been without electricity for almost two weeks.
Last week, the Highway Mail reported about a protest in New Germany where residents were upset about living without electricity for weeks because no contractor would come repair the faults.
Housing, roads and stormwater maintenance had also been affected, said Mthethwa.
Mthethwa said the city was trying to restore services as soon as possible and security guards would continue to patrol all depots.
At a meeting held between contractors and senior electricity officials in January, it was resolved that the matter of of the aggressive group was beyond the two parties’ ability to resolve.
It was noted that it was not a constitutionally-recognised special group and therefore was not entitled to special treatment. It was also mentioned that contractors wanting to strike deals with or sub-contract to the aggrieved contractors were welcomed to do so, but the electricity unit would not recognise these deals and they would be liable if this group didn’t deliver.
It was also noted that the matter was now being handled by the ANC Ethekwini regional office, which has also indicated that no special treatment could be given. A meeting was expected to be held between the ANC and and this group later in the month. Until this matter is resolved, it was declared unsafe to work and contractors needed to continue staying off site.
