Johannesburg - The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has slammed the MMC of Economic Development in the City of Johannesburg Nkululeko Mbundu for his threats to fire municipal administrators for problems related to service delivery.
In a council meeting last week, Mbundu said if it were up to him, he would fire all politically linked administrators because they created blockages in the delivery of services to residents of the city.
Mbundu is an ActionSA councillor and a member of the multi-party government, which has had tense relations with workers who were employed during the ANC’s term in office.
The comment has created an uproar from opposition parties and Samwu.
Samwu chairperson Esther Matyana told The Star that the union had demanded a meeting with the MMC on his comments. Matyana said Mbundu’s comments had left workers feeling nervous about their job security.
“The MMC must realise that we are not politicians. We are workers, and even when the ANC was in charge, and they did things that were against workers, we challenged them,” Matyana said.
Matyana said the union was annoyed with the attitude of the Multi-Party Government towards workers. She said the Multi-Party Government had a colonial attitude towards the running of the municipality.
“Mbundu is a white boy trapped in a black body. How could he say such things about workers who come to the municipality every day to ensure that their children have food? They just don’t respect workers, and they want to run Johannesburg like it's Cape Town,” she said.
Matyana said Mbundu’s comments were an indication that the Multi-Party Government had no remorse in firing 130 workers who were fired earlier this year. The matter was still in the South Gauteng High court.
“It’s not enough that 130 families are suffering because of them, and now they are talking about dismissing more workers. How long should black people suffer under this DA administration?” Matyanana said.
She further said Samwu had noted that the City of Johannesburg had reserved certain jobs from non-black applicants. Matyana said this was a concern, and an indictment of the progress on the struggle for equality in the country.
“What are they saying when they say that the city is too black and, that is why people are not paying their rates just because its black people behind the service counter, it means that they are no competent,” Matyana said.
Meanwhile, Mbundu’s office was expected to comment on the story before deadline.
The Star