Durban - The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the mayor of Nongoma, Albert Mncwango, have fired back at KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements over his comments on fired Newcastle workers and housing issues in the province.
On Tuesday in Durban, while meeting the media, Mahlaba said the firing of 223 workers of Newcastle municipality in November 2019 was justified.
At the time, Mahlaba was an ANC mayor of the municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal and the workers were recently reinstated by the IFP administration which won the elections in November last year.
UPDATE: SAMWU KZN has fired back at KZN MEC for Human Settlements, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba for claiming that the 223 workers he fired while he was the Mayor of Newcastle in November 2019 were abusing overtime. The union said:
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) October 12, 2022
According to Mahlaba, the workers were abusing the municipal overtime work provision and their firing was even upheld by the courts.
He said there was a worrying tendency by workers who call themselves “comrades” to think that they can break labour laws willy-nilly and face no consequences.
However, on Wednesday, the labour union which is aligned to the ANC through affiliation to Cosatu, claimed that Mahlaba was lying about the reasons for the firing.
Samwu in KZN said Mahlaba was trying to absolve himself by advancing lies to the public why he fired the workers.
“Mahlaba in his vindictiveness sought to, and ultimately dismissed 223 employees which he charged for allegedly throwing that one stone at him in November 2019. As Samwu we have always wondered the size of the stone that was thrown at Mahlaba for it to require all 230 employees to pick up and throw at him.
“We are however not surprised that Mahlaba is now fabricating a new charge which never existed, we know Mahlaba to be a perpetual liar who will say anything to save himself and his political career, regardless of those he harms in the process. We have always known that Mahlaba never had the interest of workers at heart, he pursued all 223 employees and ensured that they are relegated to poverty and starvation despite him not suffering any personal injury or being able to identify which of the workers threw a stone at him as alleged.
“This is the same individual who refused many attempts made by the union, trade union federation Cosatu, the SACP and his own party, the ANC that these employees be reinstated. Now that these workers have been reinstated by the new administration at the Newcastle Local Municipality, Mahlaba feels the need to cleanse himself for the sins that he committed against workers and their families.
“Mahlaba should be ashamed of himself for the trials and tribulations that he brought against these workers. It is for this reason that as Samwu, we welcome the decision taken by workers to not allow Mahlaba to address them when they recently delivered a memorandum of demands to the KZN government offices,” the union said in a statement.
During the same media engagement, Mahlaba used it to lash out at the mayor of Nongoma for inviting members of the public to an event to hand over houses.
Mahlaba said the mayor had no authority over houses since they were built by his department and they were the only ones with authority.
To prove that they have authority, he said all housing projects were funded by the department, not municipalities.
“The issue of handing over of houses … there is one executive authority of housing in KwaZulu-Natal, that is me. In their poster, they even claimed that they build and do everything for themselves. Which budget, they don’t have that budget, they get it from us. That is why we go and introduce contractors,” he said.
Hitting back at Mahlaba, Mncwango said the comments were “spineless” and the MEC should have known better.
The construction of houses through the rural housing programme in rural municipalities is a tripartite matter involving the Department of Human Settlements, municipalities and the implementing agents.
“Foist upon them not only by the imperatives of Spluma (Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act) but more importantly the DDM (Distric Development Model) imperatives. Nongoma is no exception.
“Therefore, while we accept that the Department of Human Settlements provides the budget, the municipality among other things ensures that proper planning takes place in terms of the provisions of Spluma. The construction of houses in Nongoma through this arrangement is not a new subject.”
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