SAMWU Response to Carl Niehaus and MKMVA on eThekwini Workers’ Grievances
16 May 2019
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) notes with disappointment a statement released on the 14th May 2019, by the MKMVA (Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) spokesperson and NEC member Carl Niehaus on the grievances which had been put forward by workers in the eThekwini Metro.
From the onset, Carl Niehaus is aloof and detached from the reality and experiences of workers in eThekwini particularly those at the Durban Solid Waste (DSW) department. Workers at the DSW department have never isolated the group of 60 which Niehaus refers to, in fact, they are fellow municipal workers and as such worker solidarity remains one of the principles binding these workers together.
As a national spokesperson of the MKMVA, Niehaus should have used his statement to unconditionally apologize to municipal workers who were assaulted by fellow workers, allegedly belonging to MKMVA. This is one of the issues which was raised by workers who sought that the issue be immediately addressed as these workers were assaulted on employer premises, while on duty. However, in an attempt to push his narrow political agendas and a clear indication of the lack of knowledge on the real issues on the ground, Niehaus is silent on this matter.
Niehaus has in his statement sought to justify the recruitment and hiring process of this group of employees, arguing they have received NQF 14 qualification, a qualification which does not exist in the country or anywhere in the world. For the benefit of a doubt, we will assume that he meant NQF 4, an equivalent of matric. Even if this was the case, does this, therefore, mean that all other municipal workers do not have matric at all and as a result, their years of experience and qualifications should be overlooked in favour of a particular group of workers?