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KZN Municipality finances mysteriously run dry! |
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KZN Municipality finances mysteriously run dry!
SAMWU PRESS STATEMENT
03rd March 2010
It is with our greatest disappointment, that we have to register our collective concern as a Union at a Branch level, in light of what is being articulated in the media, concerning the state Msunduzi Municipality in Pietermaritzburg (KZN) is in financially.
The assertions made by the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC over the past week to say that Msunduzi’s finances have mysteriously run dry, surely did not go down well with our members within the Municipality in question. The budget is said to be unable to afford a week’s running of the Municipality! The greatest fear currently is where are the workers’ salaries going to come from. Let alone the money necessary to sustain service delivery.
Our shop stewards and members have always raised these issues and many others in their internal collective bargaining structures; that the Municipality was not run properly in all respects, even up to a point where they had to stage a march to present their memorandum last year. Despite this nothing concrete had been done.
As leadership of the Union we view the above as a cause for serious concern, these problems have come to the fore exactly the way the Union at local level had predicted they would. We are quite aware that some managers refused to have anything to do with SAMWU when these issues were raised. Some senior managers would go so far as to do their level best to ensure that SAMWU is vilified and demonized for their active role in advancing the interests and the welfare of its members. Today we witness the current state of the municipality with anger and resentment, which will undoubtedly cause an impasse which would be quite difficult to undo under these circumstances.
It is quite unfortunate that this takes place at this current conjuncture when, as a Union, we were still in the celebratory mood of the resounding victory of the ANC in most municipalities within the province, and when we reflected that there should come a time when both Labour and Employer components should collectively boast the successes they have registered over the years, to alleviate the plight of their beloved Msunduzi Municipality employees and the citizens at large, which never saw the light of day.
It is our view that a thorough investigation against responsible managers has to be conducted, with a view to institute disciplinary measures in the full extent of the law.
We as a Union will be monitoring to see if justice is carried out, because our members are always subjected to unfair disciplines and at times are unfairly dismissed for minor misconducts, while workers at managerial level often get away with quite a number of serious allegations. We believe that disciplinary mechanisms should extend to managerial level. We call upon our honourable MEC to institute such discipline, should there be any unbecoming act of mismanagement and maladministration in various departments within Msunduzi Municipality.
For further comment contact the SAMWU Pietermaritzburg Branch Secretary Nokubonga Dinga on 033-3425273 or 0722790059 / 0833079401
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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