ETHEKWINI NEWSFLASH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1 MARCH 2024

EThekwini Municipality is concerned about the impact that the unlawful strike action has on service delivery and has put in place emergency contingency plans to minimise service disruptions to residents and business.

Safety measures have been implemented to ensure the wellbeing of Municipal staff and residents during this time.

This includes deployment of security personnel at strategic locations to monitor and safeguard critical infrastructure.

The Municipality has urged the police to adopt a no-nonsense approach to those who abuse the right to strike and engage in unlawful behaviour and violate the rights of the sick, the healthcare professionals and other law-abiding workers.

Metro Police working with South African Police Service has intensified their deployment and more arrests are imminent to deal with violence and lawlessness.

The Municipality notes that the current strike has all the hallmarks of criminality and illegality as there can be no justification for the distasteful events witnessed in the healthcare sector and other public facilities since 27 February 2024.

The Municipality is currently instituting disciplinary action against employees who were identified committing misconducts such as assault, intimidation, damage to property and other serious forms of misconduct during the process of the unlawful industrial action in terms of the disciplinary procedure collective agreement.

Assessments are underway to quantify costs associated with the unlawful strike action.

The City recognises that certain areas have experienced prolonged water outages which has been exacerbated by the illegal strike action.

While electricity supply and refuse collection has also been affected in some areas.

The Electricity Unit as well as the Water and Sanitation Unit has established contingency plans to prioritise areas currently without these critical services.

ELECTRICITY

The Municipality is working tirelessly to attend to major power outages in several areas and teams are working round the clock to restore electricity supply in affected communities.
Dispatched teams are actively identifying faults to restore power supply as soon as possible. They have already restored large power outages in areas such as Westmead, Pinetown and Austerville.
We assure residents that reported faults will be attended to and resolved as soon as possible.

WATER

The Municipality is aware of the interruption of water supply to various areas across the City.
The strike has resulted in our technical teams not being able finalise trouble shooting on the Northern Aqueduct to determine if there’s improved efficiency of water flow on the pipeline after the completion of the installation of valves on 28 February.

Incidents of vandalism and sabotage of water infrastructure has also resulted in water outages in some areas.

Teams have been deployed to attend to damages and restore water supply. Water tankers are also being dispatched to affected areas.

REFUSE COLLECTION SERVICES

Waste collection services have also been disrupted due to the strike action. This has affected the Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit’s refuse collection and street sweeping services. Residents are requested not to take out their refuse until further notice.

Garden refuse sites have also been temporarily closed. We request residents to keep their garden refuse within their properties.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused, especially to affected businesses and residents, we are appealing for patience during this time.

The City remains committed to engaging with aggrieved employees, through their union representatives and the recognised labour structures, in order to bring an end to the unlawful strike.

ENDS

Issued by eThekwini Municipality’s Communication Unit.