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SAMWU will not give up the fight |
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SAMWU will not give up the fight in the North West province. We will not be deterred by the violence and intimidation
SAMWU PRESS STATEMENT.
26th February 2010.
As the largest local government Union, the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) would like to condemn in the strongest possible manner the heavy handed tactics used by the SAPS yesterday in Madibeng (Brits) North West province against community members and workers. We would like to indicate to the SAPS that we will not be deterred by the violence you direct against us time and time again. We refuse to drink and give our children contaminated water! We will continue to fight corruption and appalling service delivery within Local Government and any other public entity.
“Why should we keep quiet when our families’ lives are at risk?” Residents of the Oukasie community in Madibeng (Brits) are frustrated and decided to take to the streets yesterday. They are forced to feed their babies with dirty and contaminated water. The Madibeng Municipality has a nasty history of poor service delivery. Today the ANC Government will listen to them, we as SAMWU will make sure of that.
All those involved in the corruption and mismanagement in the water services and interference of the administration of the municipality, there days are numbered! We will not rest until you are taken out of office. We will take our demands to the highest office to ensure that our Municipalities in the country can and are able to deliver services, free of corruption.
SAMWU in the North West province will meet with the provincial leadership of the ANC this afternoon to discuss the demands we put forward. We as SAMWU are deeply disappointed that the workers and communities of Madibeng have had to drink dirty water for the past two weeks! The Municipality cannot deliver the basic of services to the Oukasie community. Part of the discussions with the ANC leadership will include the urgency required to replace the current Mayor or Madibeng Municipality.
The situation is getting increasingly worse. Police fired rubber bullets yesterday, more than 70 community members were arrested and dozens were taken to hospital due to serious injuries. The Mayor refuses to listen to the demands of the community, further aggravating the already tense situation.
We are strongly urging the ANC to immediately intervene and make sure the communities demands are not only heard but that their demands are accepted and swiftly dealt with.
Those individuals who have been using the ruling party to enrich themselves have done so at the expense of our communities and our innocent children, who are today being fed with dirty and contaminated water. We will continue to fight and take to the streets together in solidarity with our federation COSATU and our affiliates who would be willing to support us in our fight against corruption, the totally unacceptable kind witnessed at the Madibeng Municipality.
For further comment contact SAMWU General Secretary Mthandeki Nhlapo 0725369756 or the SAMWU North West Provincial Secretary on 0820617800
Issued by;
Tahir Sema.
South African Municipal Workers' Union of COSATU.
National Media and Publicity officer.
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Office: 011-331 0333.
Cell: 0829403403.
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Worker's News April 2008 PART 1 (514)
