SAMWU Supports Motion of no Confidence in Mashaba

08 September 2017

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has taken keen interest in the developments within the City of Johannesburg, particularly the motion of no confidence which has been filed by the ANC Johannesburg region against Mayor Herman Mashaba. 

Following the filing of the motion, Mashaba ran to the media in an attempt to redeem himself while casting aspersions on those who filed the motion against him. This is a clear indication of how clueless and irresponsible Mashaba is with processes and procedures of local government. He should have waited for the motion to be debated in council instead of debating it in the media, after all its council which will be debating and voting on the motion. 

Under Mashaba, the City has introduced a new job application form which requires applicants to declare their political affiliation. This not only goes against the rights to South Africans to freedom of association but is an attempt by the DA led coalition to insure that only DA card carrying members are employed in this City while they hypocritically criticize cadre deployment. 

Our primary concern with this new job application form is not cadre deployment but that the Mayor and his team are promoting lawlessness within the City. This relates to Section 56A of the Municipal Systems Act which prohibits managers and those reporting directly to the Municipal Manager to hold political positions. This section of the Act has been declared unconstitutional and invalid by the Constitutional Court following SAMWU’s challenge of its constitutionality at the country ’s highest court. 

Under Mashaba, collective bargaining within the City has virtually collapsed as a result of the Mayor’s interference of the union’s internal affairs. Local Labour Forums has not been regularly been seating because Mashaba has developed a divide and conquer strategy against workers.

Under Mashaba, workers have been prosecuted through the media while those who have taken a decisive stance against this ill-treatment have been victimized by the employer through unfair labour practices and suspensions which have no legal bearing.  

Under Mashaba, workers at the Licensing Department have been placed on extended suspension while there is no case which is being prosecuted. This has severely affected service delivery at the stations across the City. 

Under Mashaba, workers at the City have had their salaries unilaterally and illegally deducted by the employer for services owed without prior consultation whereas there are policy provisions which enables workers to make payment arrangements with the City. 

Under Mashaba, the City has stopped the provision of the first 6000 litters of water consumed by households for free which will ultimately result in the poor of the poor being denied basic services such as water. 

Under Mashaba, workers have not been receiving their pay slips thus not knowing what deductions have been effected on their salaries while other workers’ key performance areas have been unilaterally altered by the employer without prior consultation or remuneration for the additional work. Workers who have raised these unfair labour practices, particularly within City Parks have been severely victimized at the instruction of the Mayor. 

Under Mashaba, many services providers have not been paid for periods longer than 3 months. This has resulted in workers having to bring toilet paper and other items with them to work, leaving us to believe rumors that the City is on a brink of a financial collapse. 

We therefore call on all political parties to set aside their differences and vote with their conscience in support of the motion. This has nothing to do with politics but ensuring that the City continues on its constitutional mandate of delivering services to its citizens while also protecting workers’ rights which have effectively evaporated under the tyrant rule of Mashaba and his administration. 

We further call on parties which claim to be representing the workers and the poor to do the right thing and ensure that they vote to remove Mashaba who has proven himself to be anti-black, anti-workers and pro-capital, an individual who has gone out of his way to fuel xenophobic hatred amongst the City’s citizens. 

Statement issued by Bafana Zungu, SAMWU Regional Secretary, Greater Johannesburg Region, 8 September 2017