AN ILLEGAL strike by the eThekwini municipal workers not only caused a backlog, but it was violent and claimed a person's life.
The victim, who was a supervisor at a cemetery in Umlazi, was attacked and beaten while transporting grave diggers. She died at the weekend.
Ethekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said following the incident, workers who engaged in the illegal strike were fired and others suspended. He said within a period of two weeks, the situation will be back to normal.
Kaunda was speaking at a media briefing in Durban on Wednesday, 13 March.
"The municipality is facing a massive service delivery backlog due to the illegal industrial action by Samwu affiliated employees. This strike has not only crippled service delivery city-wide, but it has also been accompanied by violent acts of criminality which have resulted in the loss of life and injuries to some of our staff members," said the mayor.
He said that the leadership of the city condemned these incidents.
"We will not allow vandalism of infrastructure and attacks on non-striking employees because we are of a firm view that while we exercise our right to strike, we must never infringe on the right of others, especially the community who have been denied access to water and electricity and other essential services," Kaunda said.
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He said since the strike began on Tuesday, 27 February, the municipality has not been able to fulfil its mandate to provide some of the most basic services to the residents.
"But following the intervention from all spheres of government, we are pleased that the negotiations with Samwu have resumed, and a memorandum was issued by the union on Monday directing its members to return to work," Kaunda said.
He said that as of Tuesday, 12 March, they began seeing most employees returning to work, particularly in engineering, electricity, water, and sanitation units.
"To date 81 employees are on precautionary suspension for misconduct committed during the illegal strike while 1891 employees have been given notices of misconduct and 88 employees have been dismissed for their participation in the unlawful industrial action," he said.
The mayor said the disciplinary proceedings being instituted by the municipality are governed by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council Disciplinary Procedure Collective Agreement.
He said regarding electricity, their teams have been able to reduce electricity faults from 80 to 50 as of Tuesday 12 March, and work continues to attend to all affected areas.
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