FILE PHOTO| Scores of municipal workers, affiliated with SAMWU, protest outside the Johannesburg High Court. PHOTO: X/IOL
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) is set to embark on a nationwide day of action on Thursday, with municipal workers expected to march to the National Treasury in Tshwane to highlight what it describes as a deepening crisis in local government and the water sector.
In a statement by the union’s secretariat, the march will begin at the Old Putco Depot in Marabastad, Tshwane, before proceeding to the National Treasury offices, with the recipients of its memorandum including the departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and Water and Sanitation, as well as the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
“This march is a call to defend workers, defend collective bargaining, defend public services and rebuild local government and the water sector in the interests of communities. Workers have waited long enough and as resolved by our 13th National Congress, we will organise; we will mobilise and, we will fight!” the union said.
SAMWU said that municipalities and water boards have been weakened by chronic underfunding, deteriorating infrastructure, corruption, outsourcing, overreliance on consultants, privatisation, and failures to pay workers’ salaries and benefits on time.
According to the union, these challenges have undermined service delivery while placing increasing pressure on frontline municipal workers.
“Workers are not the cause of this crisis. Workers are the backbone of service delivery. They are the ones who keep water flowing, waste collected, roads maintained, electricity services running and communities served, often without proper tools of trade, safe working conditions or the respect they deserve,” the union said.
SAMWU is calling for the review of the Local Government Equitable Share formula, and for the local government share of nationally raised revenue to be increased to at least 15%.
The union also intends demanding what it described as an end to National Treasury’s interference in collective bargaining processes, the implementation of the City of Johannesburg’s Placement Framework Agreement, the conclusion of the Wage Curve Agreement, and stronger protection for workers, shop stewards and whistleblowers.
SAMWU said it will renew its opposition to outsourcing and the extensive use of private consultants by municipalities, arguing that money continues to be spent on consultants while essential services deteriorate and workers lack adequate equipment and benefits.
In addition to its demands directed at National Treasury and COGTA, the union is calling on water boards to honour existing collective agreements and on the water and sanitation department to intervene where it alleges workers are being victimised by management.
The union said it expected an answer to their demands, within 14 days.
On Tuesday, SAMWU accused SALGA’s Gauteng branch of attempting to intimidate and discourage municipal workers from participating in Thursday’s national day of action, saying the provincial circular sought to undermine legitimate worker mobilisation, while claiming SALGA’s national leadership had not authorised or sanctioned it.
“The reckless communication is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate workers, suppress legitimate worker mobilisation and shield National Treasury from growing public opposition to its destructive austerity agenda,” the union said.
The union said instead of opposing National Treasury’s withholding of equitable share allocations to municipalities, which it says threatens salaries, pensions, service delivery and municipal finances, SALGA had chosen to target workers.
Meanwhile, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) has thrown its support behind SAMWU’s march, saying it stands in solidarity with municipal workers in their campaign to defend workers’ rights, collective bargaining and quality public services.
SADTU said deteriorating municipal infrastructure, corruption, outsourcing, privatisation and the excessive use of consultants had contributed to worsening working conditions and declining service delivery, while many workers continued to face delayed salaries and unpaid benefits.
The teacher’s union backed SAMWU’s demands for an end to outsourcing and wasteful consultant spending, the implementation of collective agreements and wage increases, and the timely payment of workers’ salaries and benefits.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) has also declared its support for SAMWU, describing the national march as a stand against the deterioration of municipalities, corruption, outsourcing, austerity and the erosion of workers’ rights and public services.
POPCRU called on the government to urgently address the crisis in local government through better funding, accountability for corruption, stronger collective bargaining, improved working conditions and an end to the outsourcing and privatisation of basic municipal services.
It is expected that across the country, solidarity pickets will be held at provincial Treasury offices and municipal offices in support of the national march.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has also thrown its full support behind the SAMWU National Day of Action in Tshwane, saying the march is a stand against austerity measures and the worsening conditions facing municipal workers.
In a statement, the SACP accused the National Treasury of withholding critical funding from municipalities to force local governments to implement austerity measures and surrender constitutionally protected administrative powers.
“These actions are aimed at institutionalising austerity and liberalising the local state. These policies are part and parcel of implementation of the Vulindlela programme of government rooted in austerity and a thoroughgoing neoliberal agenda,” the party said.
The SACP said it welcomed municipal workers taking a stand to defend the local government sector from what it described as a hostile takeover by private sector and bourgeois economic interests.
“It is encouraging for the SACP when workers in the local government sector take up these struggles so as to defend the local state from a hostile takeover by the private sector and bourgeois economic interests. This push back by local government employees is not only workers defending their jobs but, much more than that, is the working class reclaiming their position as drivers of public policy and public services.”
The party said its solidarity with SAMWU was rooted in the belief that organised workers could drive meaningful social and political change.
“The solidarity of the SACP with SAMWU emanates from the understanding that when the working class acts consciously, collectively and deliberately, it can change the world.”
The SACP also backed the union’s opposition to the victimisation and dismissal of members and shop stewards, as well as its criticism of what it described as National Treasury’s interference in municipal governance.
“As the SACP, we stand with SAMWU in the fight against victimisation and unfair dismissals of members and shop-stewards. We also support the union in standing against the National Treasury’s interference in municipal governance. This interference violates the Constitution and the laws governing municipal affairs.”
The party further endorsed SAMWU’s campaign against the outsourcing and tenderisation of municipal services, warning that the growing crisis of unpaid salaries threatened the viability of municipalities.
“We also stand with SAMWU in opposing the tenderisation and outsourcing of municipal services. The crisis of non-payment of salaries in local government threatens to collapse our municipalities and an appropriate response is not the asphyxiation of municipalities as the National Treasury intends.”
The SACP said corruption had contributed significantly to the crisis facing municipalities and pledged to join the National Day of Action.
“We support SAMWU in their fight against corruption in the local government sphere. It is corruption that has caused the legitimacy crisis in local government and thereby weakened the local state.”
The party said its members would participate in the march and called on all SACP activists to join the demonstration and show solidarity with municipal workers.