Komani in chaos
Streets on fire as municipal strike over pay drags on
SOUTH African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) members have threatened to continue with protest action in Komani until Lukhanji Municipality addresses their grievances.
The town’s Cathcart Road became a no-go area this week as striking workers burnt tyres and blocked off the street.
Refuse bins were overturned and litter strewn across both Cathcart Road and adjacent Ebden Street, while piles of uncollected refuse were heaped on pavements all around the area. Police kept a visible presence throughout.
Rumours were rife that an extended power outage in Madeira Park and a section of Top Town was due to workers preventing non-striking municipal employees from doing the repairs, but this could not be confirmed.
Samwu regional secretary Mongameli Mancam said the protest stemmed from an unfulfilled agreement on the guidelines for salary structures with the municipality.
“We are in this situation because the problem is benchmarking. In 2013 a document was released by the South African Local Government Association that all municipalities should be graded. That did not happen here until late last year.”
He said a committee had been set up to handle the benchmarking, with the main objective to close the gap in salaries.
“Management is getting abnormal salaries compared to our workers, whose salaries are very low. Council resolved to set a budget of R10-million to address these discrepancies, and, in short, the council was misled because they were given the wrong report by management.”
He said efforts to engage with management were unsuccessful. “They did not want to listen.”
Mancam said the workers were not on strike. “We have not declared a strike. They are waiting for the municipal manager [MM] to address them. We want the managers who benefited wrongly to have the money deducted.
“Management is playing with our people. The workers will fight.”
Mancam said if Lukhanji management had met the workers earlier, the town would not be in the state it was in.
He called for the MM, Nolwandle Gqiba, to step down.
“The MM is running away, which shows she is not fit to lead this organisation, the public and workers, and we demand she must be released.”
Mancam said the workers had met with management on Tuesday but had not yet come to an agreement.
The protest would continue through a legal strike.
“We met the MM and handed in our demands. The mayoral committee said they would not do any of the things we ask; therefore the workers said they would continue until their demands were met,” he said.
While Mancam claimed police had fired rubber bullets at protesters in a “brutal” action, police spokesman captain Namhla Mdleleni denied this.
Worker Njemdaka Yasemaqwathini said workers would not back down until they were paid.
“It has been many years since we were promised the money owed to us. I have been a truck driver in this town for over 15 years. It was never like this when we were under white government. They also robbed people, but not like current leaders do.
“The ANC is our government; we also fought for freedom – we just want our money. They do not answer us but sit in their offices earning big salaries and do not pay us what we deserve.
“We are tired of this leadership and we are not scared of them.
“We want the media and the public to know why we are doing this.”
The situation, ongoing for the whole week, has raised the ire of residents.
Andries Schlebusch of the Queenstown Police Forum said they had partnered with the provincial traffic department, police and a local company to clean the town at night, but the protesters continued to overturn bins again.
The protest actions have had a devastating impact on business, with some saying they had to close their doors due to the smoke from the fires.
Customers were too scared to enter Cathcart Road. Adeel Akhder of Komani Fish said they had decided to close on Monday and Tuesday, and business was still slow yesterday.
“We had no business, it was bad and we had to close the shop.”
A barber, who only identified himself as Dee, said: “I stayed inside because in some places people were attacking others. There was no business because many shops were closed down.”
Hawker Chuma Sabi said the strikers had been inconsiderate towards others.
“Some of us work by selling small items on the streets, so if the strikers burn down everything and prevent customers from coming to us, then we lose business.
“They must find ways to strike without making us go home empty-handed.”
Komani residents took to The Rep’s Facebook page to vent their frustration at what had become of the town, with one user saying: “This used to be one of the neatest towns in the Eastern Cape, but now it looks like a dump site.”
By yesterday, the situation had not returned to normal.
Municipal spokesman Fundile Feketshane could not provide comment despite requests from The Rep.
“At an appropriate time we shall issue a statement around what is taking place at Lukhanji. We urge you to wait for such time,” he said.