Power out, tools down

Employees of Msukaligwa Municipality say they have had enough of management’s empty promises and apparent lack of interest in resolving their issues with wages and working conditions.

The employees recently downed tools and took to the municipal offices at the Civic Centre to voice their concerns and dissatisfaction with the manner in which management is treating their issues.

At the heart of the argument is the municipal task grade, which determines on which level a municipality is graded, as the level of grading has direct financial implications for everyone.

Other issues are the non-payment to artisans with scarce skills and with trade tests in the electrical department, shortage of staff and other allowances.

According to sources close to the situation, in 2010 Msukaligwa Municipality along with others in the district were graded and Msukaligwa was placed in task grade 4 category B level.

The sources explained that employees have since not been compensated or remunerated according to the relevant grade.
They allege that only top management is benefiting from this.

The sources further alleged that municipal management committed to begin paying them danger and scarce skills allowances from last month.
This, however, did not happen and neither did it this month.
The employees refuse to take this lying down and have vowed not to return to normal duties until their demands are met, a stance that has strained service delivery.

On Monday, the employees once again took to the Civic Centre, calling for the removal of Municipal Manager Mr Zwelihle “Sabatha” Shongwe, whom they have labelled “cheeky, arrogant and useless”.

In the meantime, a number of sections in Ermelo and Wesselton were without electricity for days, which sparked protests in areas such as Extension1 and Thusi Ville.
In Extension 1, members of the community went on a rampage on Monday afternoon and torched a guardroom at the municipal chamber offices.

The police were called to the scene and the crowd dispersed as the police took out their rubber bullet firearms and put out the blaze at the guardroom.

Speaking to the Highvelder, members of the community said they were sick and tired of the electricity outages.
They complained that their food was going off in their refrigerators, because the municipality did not put matters right with its staff.

“We’ve been without electricity for a couple of days now and notifying the call centre did not help,” said more than one resident.

Members of the community also complained about the non-communication by the municipality about the electricity problem.

Municipal employees rubbished claims that they had anything to do with the power outage in the affected areas, but attributed that to aging infrastructure, something the municipality must deal with.
Unconfirmed allegations suggest that the municipality employed a contractor to deal with the electricity problems, but he was threatened by municipal employees.

Executive Mayor of Msukaligwa Municipality Mr Msongelwa “Archbishop” Nkosi addressed the employees on Monday afternoon and pleaded with them for time until 15 November to try and resolve some of the problems.
His request was well received by the employees and they returned to work on Tuesday.

Electricity was restored in the affected areas on Monday evening.

Municipal spokesman Mr Mandla Zwane confirmed that Msukaligwa is on the grade 4 level, but said the task grade/task job evaluation had not been implemented yet. Therefore the salaries of employees have not been adjusted accordingly.

He added that the Executive Mayor had instructed municipal management and unions to resolve the issue about the allowance for scarce skills as soon as possible.

According to Mr Zwane, the cause of the power outage in various parts of Ermelo over the weekend is unknown at this stage. As it was unplanned, no prior warning to consumers was possible.

He declined to comment on the use of a contractor’s services during the outage.

He extended the municipality’s unconditional apology to residents negatively affected by the outage and called on protestors to refrain from destroying property.