The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) notes with grave concern the ongoing and misleading statements by the uMhlathuze Local Municipality, which aim to conceal the municipality’s failures in delivering services to communities. The municipality’s deliberate and dishonest narrative attempts to blame striking workers for the service delivery crisis. As a Union, we view these actions as a cowardly attempt to divert public attention from the real issues of systemic corruption and the squandering of public funds intended for the people of Esakhiwini.
SAMWU unequivocally states that the collapse in service delivery is not the fault of the workers but rather a direct result of chronic corruption, maladministration, and poor leadership within the municipality. Peaceful protests by SAMWU workers in the municipality have not interfered with service delivery, particularly the provision of water in Esikhawini. This is, therefore, a systematic attempt to divert attention from serious infrastructure failures that have affected not only ward 13 but many other wards within the municipality. We firmly believe that Mr. Mhlongo’s attempts to divert attention from his failure to provide services require a thorough assessment by the community, the full Council, and COGTA.
The workers’ strike is both lawful and protected, with a strike certificate duly issued by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) following all processes outlined in the Labour Relations Act (LRA). In an attempt to silence workers and suppress their rights, the Municipality twice approached the Labour Court seeking to interdict the strike, failing on both occasions. The Municipality is well aware that the Labour Court is the only competent body to declare a strike unlawful, and SAMWU calls upon all Councillors to question the Municipal Manager and his team of directors about the true state of affairs in the Municipality.
Most notably, on 12 June 2025, the Labour Court struck the Municipality’s urgent application off the roll, with Madam Justice Yellen Yaman rebuking both the Municipality and their legal representatives. The Court found that they had failed to comply with court rules and provisions of the LRA, condemning their desperate and unlawful attempt to interfere with workers’ rights to engage in a peaceful and protected strike. Despite this, the Municipality, fully aware of the Labour Court order, continues to mislead the public about the legality of the strike. SAMWU and its leadership will not jeopardise the lives of oppressed workers by sanctioning an unprotected strike. The strike remains protected under the act and the certificate issued by the SALGBC.
We, therefore, call upon the municipality to immediately cease issuing misleading statements and focus its energy on improving the lives of all uMhlathuze residents. We further need to place on record that the Municipal Manager has called off negotiations that began on Friday, 20 June 2025. This unfortunate decision indicates a Municipal Manager who is not interested in addressing issues raised by workers, and rather seeks to scapegoat them and pit them against the communities they live in and serve.
We need to stress that before we are municipal workers, we are community members, and as such, we want to see municipalities function and deliver services.
It is unfortunate that as a result of the employer’s arrogance, workers have had to resort to strike action. We should, however, stress that as a Union with roots in the communities we serve, we have taken a deliberate decision not to allow essential service workers to participate in the strike action since there is no Minimum Service Agreement with the municipality. It is therefore incorrect to attribute water disruption to the ongoing peaceful strike. This is not only a victory for workers but a clear indictment of the Municipality’s gross incompetence and arrogance, as it continues to waste public resources fighting its own employees instead of addressing deep-rooted community issues.
SAMWU calls upon all communities under uMhlathuze Municipality to stand with workers in demanding clean governance, ethical leadership, and dignified service delivery, urging them never to accept any attempts to use workers as scapegoats for the rot within the municipality. We once again remind the Municipal Manager to immediately cease his embarrassing ignorance and insolent behaviour towards the uMhlathuze community and begin to read and act on reports from his junior managers regarding daily challenges, including Sunday’s incident. The fight of workers is the fight of the community , and service delivery will only improve when corruption is defeated and accountable governance is restored.
Issued by SAMWU Shonamalanga Region
Zandile Gumede
Regional Secretary
(081 284 2591)
Or
Zethu Fakude
Deputy Regional Secretary
(063 509 2924)