DURBAN - CONTRACT workers employed in the eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Solid Waste Unit (DSW) unit have labelled the municipality a “slave master” who does not value the work they do.
The workers employed under the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) but attached to the city’s DSW unit have also threatened to trash the city if their demands are not met.
Hundreds of workers marched to City Hall yesterday complaining about being overlooked for permanent employment.
The aggrieved workers said they felt the municipality was treating them like slaves and was a slave master who had enjoyed the “fruits of their long toiling years under the Expanded Public Works Programme Yoke.”
The convener of the march, Thokozani Phehlukwayo, said the main grievance was that workers wanted to be given priority when permanent posts were available in the unit.
“We have been under this programme for the past eight years. We were told that this was part of giving us experience and we will be considered when permanent posts become available, but what we have noticed is that every time there is a post, someone from outside is appointed,” he said.
He said new posts were advertised last year and they should have been filled five months ago but none of the workers in the EPWP section who had applied had been called for an interview or informed about how their applications went.
“We cannot be waiting for five months to find out how the process to fill these posts is going,” he said.
The workers, from the Safer Cities, Social Sector, and DSW departments, marched from King Dinuzulu Park to the City Hall to hand over a memorandum of demands. In their memorandum seen yesterday, the workers registered their dissatisfaction and accused the municipality of treating them unfairly.
“We, workers of the eThekwini Municipality under the cleansing and solid waste unit, write this memorandum to voice our frustration because the manner in which we are treated by the eThekwini Municipality is unfair.
“We feel that we are slaves and our masters, the municipality, enjoys the fruits of our long toiling years under the EPWP yoke,” said the memorandum It continued, “You have pushed us too far now.”
The workers have also threatened not to vote in the upcoming local government elections. Many carried placards with the words – “November 1 is coming, we will show you”.
Once the workers reached City Hall, they demanded that mayor Mxolisi Kaunda address them. By 2pm, the workers had not been addressed and their memorandum had not been read or signed.
Phehlukwayo said a meeting with management was scheduled for Friday. “No one came to address the workers, and the workers are not happy about that to the extent that they are considering to take to the streets and protest.”
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city was aware of the march: “We are disappointed about the threats they are making on their memorandum. The city always makes room for engagement.
“It’s unfortunate that they say they are treated like slaves yet the city ensures they are able to put food on the table while we are engaging on the issues they are raising.,” he said.
THE MERCURY