It has been two weeks since his swearing in and already eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba is facing an uphill battle — over trash.
Hundreds of disgruntled municipality contract workers who fall under the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) tasked with refuse removal and street sweeping, camped outside the Durban city hall on Wednesday over their future.
The city did an about-turn on the termination of the programme on Tuesday when the executive committee (Exco) voted in favour of extending the contracts — which were due to end on Thursday — by another year.
The committee, Xaba’s first as Exco chair, approved the implementation of phase five of the programme for the 2024/25 financial year despite a cut in incentive grants by the public works and infrastructure department.
The municipality will receive R18.79m from the incentives grant, which is R42m less than what it received in the previous year. This means only 1,276 of the 4,155 participants will be retained and the city will have to cough up close to R100m to pay the shortfall.
The trade unions representing the workers have mixed views on the news and residents have already started to feel the implications.
The city was without waste collection this week due to alleged intimidation of Durban Solid Waste workers by former EPWP participants.
The municipality confirmed on Wednesday solid waste collection and street sweeping has stopped until further notice because former EPWP participants had blocked gates at depots and stoned vehicles amid the ongoing dispute.
Reacting to the extension of the programme, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said the municipality was addressing an important issue.
“That’s a progressive and productive move and with this happening in the midst of such unemployment. We know one cannot satisfy everyone and that’s why we’re saying if there are any alternative or amicable solutions towards the challenge of unemployment, then can they try to pursue that,” said Samwu eThekwini chair Siyabonga Dladla.
However, Dladla added they were “concerned” about the number of workers who will be left unemployed and the lack of consultation from the city.
“We are waiting for the municipality to present something conclusive on what they are going to do (about the rest of the workers), the latest developments and how are they going to request the funding that they received previously to try to resolve this challenge.”
The Municipal and Allied Trade Union of South Africa (Matusa) says there is nothing to celebrate.
“Matusa is opposed to this whole thing. You can’t celebrate that almost 3,000 employees will be unemployed. EPWP isn't a decent job to begin with, but it does assist employees to buy bread for their kids. Our argument is, for the last 15 years and more, they knew they have these employees (so) why was there no budget for them?” said Matusa secretary-general Thulani Ngwenya.
He said most of the contract workers had little chance of finding other work because many were close to retirement age.
“They have dedicated years of their lives to this service, all for the minimum wage and sometimes even below that. Where are they going to go now? Also, it’s not that there is no work for them any more, they are still needed, and if there is enough will they can be retained. We are here to fight for the workers and there is no way we can accept such actions.”
Matusa members, who marched in the city last week when initial news broke about the termination of the programme, were among hundreds of workers who camped outside the Durban city hall after hearing new candidates were being fielded for the programme.
Slindile Sokhela, Matusa’s secretary-general for EPWP structures in eThekwini, said they found out people were being interviewed.
“We went there [city hall] and found out that was indeed happening. We confronted them (officials) and were told these would be seasonal workers and we asked how they could take seasonal workers who will earn about R12,000 while terminating our services claiming there is no money for us who earn R3,500,” she said.
She said they had an agreement to postpone the interviews until their concerns were resolved, only to find out the city continued the interviews at another venue.
City officials promised they would have a meeting with them on Friday.
Meanwhile, Ngwenya denied claims their members were behind the intimidation that was disrupting sanitation services.
He said permanent workers are working as expected while the rest are not working but are awaiting a way forward after Friday’s meeting.
Some of the affected areas include the CBD, Wentworth, Clairwood, Bluff, Umbilo, Pinetown, Collingwood, Chatsworth, Yellowwood Park and Glenwood.
The city did not respond to queries.
