Samwu too late on 'cadre bill'

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe says talks with the SA Municipal Workers' Union over the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill were too late to change the legislation.

"What we discovered after the meeting, is they came to the ANC very late. That bill had gone through the National Assembly and it had gone through the NCOP [National Council of Provinces]," he said on the sidelines of the ANC national executive committee lekgotla outside Pretoria.

The legislation was dubbed the "cadre bill" because it bars party office bearers from being employed in senior positions in municipalities.

President Jacob Zuma recently signed it into law.

Samwu said Zuma had assured them he would not do so. The union called off a threatened strike a week before the local government elections on May 18 after last-minute talks with the ANC, led by Zuma, over the bill.

Union spokesman Tahir Sema on Thursday said the law was intended to "depoliticise" municipalities and ensure they appointed skilled people.

"The act as it stands limits the bargaining power of the union. We will fight politically, legally and on the street," he said.

Mantashe said Samwu registered its concern over the bill at the meeting. The party agreed to look into the issues raised.

"...we were not aware that all that was outstanding was the signing the bill into law.

"Once a bill has gone through those stages there is virtually nothing you can do. Basically all that was outstanding was the signature of the president to sign it into legislation and that's it. You can't stop a bill because you had a meeting," Mantashe said.

"You can only send a bill back to Parliament if there is a Constitutional contravention. If there is no constitutional challenge to it, you can't do it."

The ANC and the union met last week to discuss their unhappiness.

"That's why when we met with them, we say 'how do we manage their unhappiness over this particular aspect?' That is the only thing we can do now.

"Before you enforce, there is interpretation. That is what the technical teams are meeting to do, they are working on that. What are the issues, what is the interpretation so that there is an understanding."

Mantashe said the provision of the bill on party officials holding senior posts was not going to change.

"Where they [Samwu] have issues they want to raise is where they think that... some aspects of the bill are actually encroaching onto what is in the collective bargaining.

"That is the issue. So what we have been saying all the time is that officials must not hold office in the party and be senior employees in the municipalities. That issue is not going to change," he said.

Samwu has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike over the bill and wage increases.