eThekwini ‘on brink of collapse’ as city struggles with Samwu strike fallout

Areas in South Durban affected by the municipal strike. (Photo: Supplied)

By Chris Makhaye

15 Mar 2024

Cleanup operations have begun in eThekwini after Samwu told striking workers to resume their duties. However, residents still suffer from a lack of service delivery and the city’s troubles appear far from over.

The eThekwini Municipality resembled Ground Zero after a three-week wildcat strike by the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), amid allegations of sabotage and protests by angry residents who had gone without water, electricity and other basic services.

Rubbish piled up and sewage flowed down streets and into rivers. Many areas had neither water nor electricity for days.

Some residents continued to dump their refuse, which had not been collected throughout the strike, on landfill sites scattered across the municipality.

Areas in South Durban affected by the municipal strike. (Photo: Supplied)

The strike began on 27 February with workers demanding salary adjustments similar to those received by workers in other metropolitan municipalities. Striking workers allegedly assaulted a municipal worker in Umlazi, leading to her hospitalisation.

On Wednesday, 13 workers appeared in the Durban Magistrates’ Court, facing charges including public violence, damaging essential infrastructure and intimidation of non-striking workers.

Mayor of eThekwini Mxolisi Kaunda said 88 workers had been dismissed for their participation in the strike; 81 were on precautionary suspension and 1,781 had been given notices of misconduct.

Read more in Daily Maverick: eThekwini ANC mayor Mxolisi Kaunda lashes out at strike by alliance partner Samwu

The municipality was granted a court interdict two weeks ago that barred workers from engaging in violence during the strike.

Samwu, which represents more than 10,000 of the city’s 25,000 workers, said it had suspended the strike while negotiations with the eThekwini Municipality, the KZN government and the national government were under way.

This week, the union said it had asked striking workers to return to their duties, but some may have not got the message and were still on strike.

Samwu general secretary Dumisani Magagula told TimesLIVE they suspended the strike after holding a “positive” dialogue with Kaunda and other government officials. The issue of pay parity with other metropolitan municipalities had been discussed at a special workshop facilitated by the eThekwini Municipality.

Protests

After three weeks of trash building up, the clean-up operation began on Wednesday, but it was clear that it would take many days to remove refuse and restore water and electricity services.

Residents in Phoenix and Verulam took to the streets, saying that they had had no water for days and demanding that Kaunda come and address their plight.

On Wednesday, residents marched to the Durban City Hall. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them and arrested some for public violence and taking part in an illegal gathering.

Brink of collapse

Members and leaders of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which is in coalition with the ANC in running the eThekwini Municipality, took to the streets in support of the striking workers and urged Kaunda to agree to their demands.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said infighting within the ANC was the cause of the strike and called on Kaunda to step down. The party wrote to KZN’s MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, to intervene with immediate effect to avoid a total catastrophe.

“The eThekwini Municipality is on the brink of collapse,” the DA said. “Crucial service delivery is at an all-time low. Sewage flows freely through our streets and into our rivers and ocean. Refuse lies uncollected in our streets for days, whilst municipal workers embark on illegal strikes, or municipal infrastructure failures impede collection and transport. The electricity grid is severely compromised, and water delivery to many parts of the city is failing on a daily basis.”

Addressing the media on Wednesday, Kaunda apologised to the residents of the city for the mayhem they endured during the strike and said the city had put in place contingency measures to ensure that all basic services were restored.

‘Lowest point’

Bheki Nkwanyana, an academic and columnist for Ilanga newspaper, said the strike revealed many elements about the state of the city.

“This city used to be a vibrant place and a leading tourist attraction. Now most of the shops and businesses in the Durban CBD are owned by foreign nationals because many of the traditional businesses have moved to the malls and other places. Now things will become worse because of worsening crime, filth and lawlessness.

“eThekwini Municipality and Durban city reached its lowest point. I have never seen Durban in such a state. The workers were demanding payment equal to the other big cities. Do they deserve the pay when the city is constantly in such a state? We know the city was devastated by Covid, the July 2021 riots and the floods, which it had not recovered from. This strike was a last straw.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Elections 2024

“There were clear signs that the strike was hijacked by different parties for their own sectional and political ends. Some workers thought that if they trash [and] sabotage infrastructure that serves communities, [it] would make the city ungovernable [and] would quickly bring the city to the negotiating table.”

He noted allegations that the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party had promoted the strike to further its electoral ambitions.

“It is also true that some of the workers had changed allegiance and joined the MK party from the ANC. Obviously, for these workers, the strike gave them [an] opportunity to serve their political ends.

“For a party like MK, the destruction of the city would signal to the voters that the ANC is incapable of governing the city, so there is a need for change. There is no doubt there was also a criminal element who used the strike for their nefarious purposes and they often do this during any upheaval,” he said.

While the MK party has admitted to supporting striking Samwu workers, it denied allegations it was involved in acts of destruction. DM.

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Brink of collapse

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