Durban - Domestic refuse in many suburbs throughout the eThekwini Municipality was not collected because of the illegal strike by Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) employees the past two days.
Six depots were closed by striking workers. Some of the affected suburbs were Durban North, Newlands, Chatsworth, Bellair and Malvern.
The strike was by EPWP and Cleansing and Solid Waste (DSW) Unit workers who had closed some of the depots from Wednesday.
Workers have gone back to work. Refuse collection had begun in the Windermere area of Morningside on Friday at 12 pm.
South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) provincial secretary Jaycee Ncanana said all the depots with EPWP workers were affected and work was at a standstill.
“There was an agreement that the employer would employ 60% EPWP workers and 40% outsiders. The employer then hired 88 temps and made them permanent and ignored the agreement,” Ncanana said.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said DSW was experiencing service interruptions because of an ongoing illegal strike by EPWP workers. Refuse collection and street sweeping around Durban was affected.
“DSW is doing all it can to resolve the issues as speedily as possible. Residents are requested to keep all refuse within their properties. We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused,” Mayisela said.
Yesterday, eThekwini Ward 70 councillor Tony Govender, said there had been no changes to the collection of refuse and he did not know what was going on. “I think it’s more of a political strike than a service delivery one,” Govender said.