A clean-up in the central business district (CBD) has caused a bone of contention between the local municipality and some of its employees. This, however, was no ordinary clean-up.
According to a staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity, Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality deployed the services of a private company during July to pick up rubbish from the streets in the CBD.
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This has frustrated employees, making them question the municipality’s motives.
“We want to know why the municipality appointed a private company. Get the municipal employees to do it. Why did the company then hire 40 people from Pietermaritzburg when we have high levels of unemployment in Estcourt?” asked a staff member.
He said that the private company and its hired staff descended on the CBD at night and when they were done, a large amount of refuse bags were dumped at the side of the Town Hall.
“The municipality says it doesn’t have money, but they employed someone to clean the town. We don’t know how this company was sourced or what the procurement policy was. He was called in at the 11th hour and started work at 9pm that evening,” added the staff member.
He said that some employees find these actions unfair and are frustrated.
Responding to the allegations and questions, Municipal Manager Patrick Mkhize said the decision to employ a private company was taken after claims were made that some staff were on the brink of strike action.
“It was alleged by some of the night shift supervisors and employees that an instruction was issued by their union that they should embark on a go-slow from July 17. It was also alleged that the said industrial action was a result of a labour dispute with the employer. As a result of the above, the CBD was not cleaned from July 17 for six days,” he explained.
Mr Mkhize added that social media posts revealed that community members were “aggrieved about the state of the town.”
“The affected department requested urgent intervention from the Office of the Municipal Manager. I then approved a deviation process from the services of a service provider that is already appointed for Waste Management Services at the landfill site. The service provider was requested to assist the municipality with cleanliness of the CBD for three days while the municipality was dealing with labour disputes,” commented Mr Mkhize.
According to a local spokesperson for the Independent Municipal & Allied Trade Union (Imatu), members were never on strike and it was business as usual.
“The allegations in terms of employment of individuals from Pietermaritzburg are unfounded and remain allegations, which are contrary to the statement above. The service provider from the landfill site used their own human resources to attend to the scope assigned to them and the municipality was not involved in the assembling of their internal resources,” concluded Mr Mkhize.
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