Durban - The Human Settlements and Infrastructure (HSI) services committee in eThekwini Municipality has approved an additional R67 million to fund overtime pay in the Water and Sanitation unit to restore order after workers downed tools, protesting against cuts to overtime pay.
The funding approval came as councillors in the committee and elsewhere accused the workers of extortion and holding the city to ransom.
They also accuse them of sabotaging infrastructure, leaving thousands of residents without water. The staff in the water unit have been protesting since last week.
The sabotage being alleged was that staff members tasked with turning water valves on and off, had failed to arrive for work, leading to supply issues.
The report on the matter tabled by the unit shows that it requested R48.1m to be transferred from critical vacancies in the water unit to overtime, and requested that R19.2m be transferred from critical vacancies in sanitation to overtime. The matter is now likely to be tabled before exco and full council next week for final approval.
Councillors on the HSI committee were briefed on the situation by the head of the unit, Ednick Msweli, during a meeting yesterday.
Adec councillor Visvin Reddy said Msweli had told the committee members that the unit needed close to R70m to cover the cost of overtime. He said this meant the city had caved on its original council resolution to cut overtime spending by 50%, in favour of employing more people. Reddy said he found the actions of the workers unacceptable.
“There are some workers claiming as much as 200 hours in overtime, something that is physically impossible.”
He said the committee would keep tight control over the spending on overtime, and would now demand a weekly report on it.
In a video shared with The Mercury that was taken by Reddy, Msweli explains to councillors in the meeting how the matter had unfolded. Msweli said a resolution to limit the hours of overtime worked had been implemented, with only critical overtime work being authorised.
However, this meant that some workers were working overtime and others were not, leading to the decision by the workers to take action.
IFP councillor and committee member Mzwethu Gwala said: “These workers are just refusing to work, we cannot have a situation whereby workers sabotage the municipality in order to extract overtime.”
DA councillor Mzamo Billy said they supported making additional funds available “because the lack of overtime budget has had a devastating impact on the supply of water to our residents”.
“This is by no way a licence for the unit and its employees to begin again to abuse overtime, and the DA will be ready to institute criminal charges against employees, managers and the municipality if abuse takes place,” he said.