Hundreds of members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in Buffalo City Metro marched to the city hall on Monday to hand over a memorandum of grievances.
SAMWU members gathered at the North End Stadium in KuGompo and marched through the streets. Tyres were burned along the route but SAMWU said this was not the work of members.
SAMWU leaders said in September last year they had struck an agreement with Buffalo City management but the City had not stuck to the deal.
Since April last year, SAMWU has held a series of protests and a full-blown strike, demanding an end to outsourcing and the casualisation of workers, the absorption of Expanded Public Works Programme employees, and danger allowances for workers involved in meter reading and sanitation (due to exposure to diseases).
The strike was called off in September last year after an agreement was reached.
But according to SAMWU regional secretary Thando Poni the only promise kept by the municipality was the payment of a R6,000 Covid allowance to each employee.
Reading out the memorandum, Poni said: “This is not a new memorandum of grievances; we are not starting anything new.”
He said SAMWU members were calling for consequence management for senior managers who fail to implement what was agreed.
He reiterated the union’s call for an end to outsourcing. He said work was being taken from municipal employees and given to contractors and consultants, leaving employees “with nothing to do other than drink coffee, eat lunch and go home”.
He added that workers were not against the use of contractors in scarce skills areas but insisted there must be skills transfer.
The memorandum was received by the Buffalo City Chief Whip, Sangweni Matwele, who acknowledged that the deal had not been implemented and said he would discuss this with the mayor.
SAMWU’s Buffalo City chairperson, Yaliwe Govuza, distanced the union from tyre burnings and the burning of rubbish in the streets.
The memorandum was received by Chief Whip Sangweni Matwele.
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Brain drain: Skilled workers emigrating to other countries.
Skylark
Yebo – yes [yeh-boh] Often expressed as a double positive by combining it with the English “yes” in “Yebo, Yes!” or as an extremely expressive “Yeeebo!” This Zulu word is used regularly in South Africa to show agreement or approval with something or someone.
Taz Ringer
A baby was born in South Africa. The village was very poor, and the makeshift hospital didn\’t have some necessary equipment.. such as scales.
The father however, was desperate to know the newborn baby\’s weight. After quite a bit of asking around, the hospital\’s chairman came up with an idea.
\”Five miles west, there\’s a butcher shop. The owner deals with meat, he should have a rather precise scale. You could just put your baby on the meat scale, and the weight reading you\’ll get should be pretty accurate.\”
And so the father departed westward. After much walking, with his newborn child cardled safely in his arms, he finally arrived at the butcher shop. He explained his dilemma to the shop owner, to witch the latter replied:
\”Don\’t worry, friend. It\’s not even a problem, I\’ll check it for you, free of charge.\” And so he took the child to the back, where the scale was located.
The father heard rumbling noises, and some scraping.. About a minute later the butcher came back.
\”About three pounds boneless\” He said.