By Khanyisa Khenese and Amahle Cele
A strike by Makana Municipality employees over the non-payment of their overtime wages is behind the water and electricity crisis currently facing the community of Makhanda, municipal manager Pumelelo Kate admitted yesterday.
Kate finally spoke out on the crisis yesterday (read Grocott’s Mail’s interview with the municipal manager on this platform and on grocotts.ru.ac.za, later today).
Meanwhile, Wandile Duruwe, the deputy chairperson of the South African Municipal Workers (Samwu) this week confirmed the workers’ strike.
Duruwe said workers affected by the unpaid overtime wages had decided to take a stand, choosing to only work normal hours from 7.30am to 4.30pm after they were not paid their overtime wages for July and August.
He emphasized that workers in the Electricity, Water and Sanitation, Fire and Traffic departments; the Lumber Gang, Cemeteries as well as hall caretakers, were working normal hours and would not work extra hours until they received the money due to them.
“There are no people that are willing to work for free, they cannot work after 4.30pm.”
Duruwe said the impact was also felt by families because “this results in us losing records of people that are being buried, because the caretakers are not in the cemeteries to take register because Makana Municipality confirmed that they don’t have money to pay the employees,” he said.
Duruwe said Kate was unable to provide a timeframe for when the workers could expect to receive their wages.
The non-payment has left many workers feeling frustrated and uncertain about their financial situation.
However, Duruwe stressed: “If there are any disruptions to water supply during the day, it is not the employees’ fault because they are working,” he said.
The resulting water and power outages are frustrating Makana and residents and social media has been flooded with complaints and concerns.
DA councillor Cary Clark’s WhatsApp voice note suggested that certain employees who wanted to work after hours despite non-payment, were threatened as they sought to open water to the public.
Many residents have called on criminal action against the municipality and the striking workers.
This was put to Duruwe, but he had not responded.
This is a developing story.
