Union suspects political play after municipality suspends their members

By ANDILE MOSHOESHOE

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) in the uGu District Municipality suspect that politics is at play after the explosion of their members.

The chairperson of the union, Mthandeni Ngcobo spoke exclusively for the first time after the recent expulsion of nine of their affiliated members. Ngcobo is part of the members who were recently expelled following allegations that they disrupted a municipal disciplinary hearing in December 2019.

The hearing was for a municipal employee who was alleged to have crashed a municipal vehicle. He said the decision to expel them was decided long before the finalisation of their case.

“This is pure revenge on us because we did nothing wrong at the hearing. Instead, I asked for clarity on the case. The worst part was that the other employees did not even speak but were also dismissed… for what?” he asked.

He said the decision to expel them is revenge related to the recent expulsion of former municipal Manager, DD Naidoo. “He was expelled after we exposed corruption in that municipality related to giving tenders worth millions to friends and family,” Ngcobo said.

He revealed he was not worried by the expulsion as it will be appealed and will further explore other avenues such as the bargaining council and labour court.

UGu spokesperson, France Zama said the municipality took a decision to release the members from their duties through a code of conduct that is against acts of misconduct.

Ngobo is however adamant that there is no case in asking for clarity when representing members of the union as even their presence in the hearing was not illegal.