Marikana cleaners push for vaccination
Panic over possibility of infection as working environment presents hazards
HUMAN waste collectors and toilet cleaners at the Marikana Informal Settlement have raised concerns about their health after working for about a month without being vaccinated.
About 20 workers – day toilet cleaning staff and night bucket system collectors – employed by Moreki Solutions which is a subcontractor to the City of Cape Town service scores of public toilets in the informal settlement weekly.
Despite their contract agreement stating that they must receive vaccinations, the workers had not. Section 15, “Health and Safety”, of their contract, states: “It is compulsory for all workers who are exposed to raw sewage to be immunised against Hepatitis B. The employee therefore agrees to be injected with Hepatitis B vaccination before commencement of duty.”
The workers, who did not want to be named, said it had been more than three weeks, and they had not been vaccinated. Some had also started noticing abnormalities in their bodies, but had not sought medical attention. They said the company was neglecting the health issue.
On Monday, the Cape Argus visited the workers at the site.
A 38-year-old cleaner said: “We were promised this injection before we started work. But the company has remained quiet now. Our lives are at risk because sometimes when we get here, especially on Mondays, the toilets are a mess. There is excrement everywhere, even on walls.”
Another cleaner, aged 36, said she noticed her right hand was more pale. “I suspect it is the chemicals. This is a real health hazard, but we are in desperate need of a job and that R106 per day payment,” she said.
Within 24 hours of sending an enquiry to the Moreki Solutions and following a city threat to suspend the work till vaccines were issued, the workers were called in to the company’s head office in Parow to receive the hepatitis B vaccine.
Garnett Jefferies, sales and operations manager at Moreki Solutions, confirmed that the workers had not received their injections at the required time.
“After we signed employment contracts with the 20 new workers of Marikana, we found out from our supplier that they didn’t have any stock due to the general shortage of the vaccination in the country.
“The vaccination shortage was a general problem in the country and stock was only confirmed on Friday, February 24 from Johannesburg,” said Jeffries.
By yesterday morning, Jeffries said 13 of the workers had been vaccinated, and the rest were awaiting more stock to arrive to be vaccinated tomorrow.
Acting mayoral committee member for Area South Suzette Little said the Occupational Health and Safety Act (No 85 of 1993) required companies awarded contracts to provide vaccinations for people who work in such conditions.
“The contractor is also not allowed to let employees start without providing proof of inoculations.The contractor will be instructed to stop all workers who have not been vaccinated from working in the service until proof of vaccination is provided,” said Little. –