THE Gauteng Permanent Delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) have called for calm amid the violence and damage to the City of Tshwane properties.
The violence emerged from the labour dispute between the city and over 130 dismissed workers.
NCOP has asked Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink to find an amicable solution to the dispute to avoid further disruptions to current and future service delivery.
The municipal workers affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) have been on strike for almost two months over salary increments and to get the mayor to reinstate the fired workers.
This has left the residents struggling to get service delivery and to intensify the matter, several vehicles belonging to the city have been torched.
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Leader of the Gauteng permanent delegates, Mohammed Dangor said as part of their weeklong oversight visit to Gauteng, the delegates met the mayor, cabinet members responsible for water and sanitation, and Gauteng provincial government leadership with a view to discuss corrective measures and roll out plans to deal with water and sanitation challenges affecting Hammanskraal and other areas of the city.
Dangor said when asked about the dismissed 135 municipal workers and if any mediation was solicited, Brink said the city is in financial distress and simply can’t afford salary increases.
Mediation with the South African Local Government Bargaining Council ruled in favour of the workers, but the city did not accept the outcome, resulting in the fallout.
Dangor said the ongoing labour dispute will only exacerbate the water and sanitation challenges affecting residents of the city, particularly Hammanskraal, where a total of 23 people died during a cholera outbreak in May 2023.
The chairman of the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements in Parliament, China Dodovu, said he is also concerned about the escalation of acts of violence.
“The burning of critical infrastructure is unacceptable as it will put undue pressure on the delivery of services upon the resolution of the dispute,” he said.
