Baviaans told to deal with problem of striking workers on its own

AFTER a two-month-long strike by Baviaans municipal workers in Willowmore, the Sarah Baartman district municipality said the town should find solutions on its own – without the district’s intervention – as this could affect the looming merg- er with the Ikwezi and Camdeboo municipalities.

This was the view of district mayor Eunice Kekana.

“Whatever labour issues are happening there must be solved before the amalgamation. The municipality must engage with workers without us intervening,” Kekana said.

SA Municipal Workers Union members in Baviaans downed tools in January, complaining about pay disparities among staff in the infrastructure and technical services departments.

They have since locked away all municipal vehicles used for service delivery, forcing the town to hire vehicles.

Kekana said she had visited Baviaans this week, but felt they needed to fix their issues with workers on their own.

“Our role is to harmonise the working relationships between the two, not to interfere,” she said.

Baviaans is the only municipality under DA leadership in the Eastern Cape.

However, Baviaans munici- pal manager Jama Vumazonke said they needed intervention as their engagement with workers had yielded no results.

“The strike has taken a long time, and it is costing the municipality a lot of money.

“We need some kind of intervention from the district or the province because our meetings with workers have not been fruitful,” Vumazonke said.

The municipality has since hired contractors to suction septic tanks, collect refuse and provide security guards.

Vumazonke said although they were not paying striking staff, it cost the municipality dearly to hire contracted services.

“We hire a Honeysucker for R13 000 per day, armed security guards for R25 000 per day to guard the trucks so they don’t get vandalised and also drivers to pick up refuse at R350 per driver . . . so it costs a lot of money compared to paying our own staff,” he said.

He said Extended Public Works Programme casual workers cleaned the streets of Willowmore and household refuse was collected by hired drivers.

The municipality collects refuse weekly in Willowmore and suctions 43 septic tanks in the town.

Baviaans Samwu leader Gerard Davids said they would continue with the strike until their salaries were fixed.