Durban - An employee from Ugu District Municipality has told of his relief following his reinstatement after being dismissed in 2020.
The employee from the South Coast municipality, who asked not to be named, said life had been difficult for him and his fellow workers, with many of them relying on friends, neighbours and relatives to make ends meet.
He is among the 121 workers reinstated this week by the district municipality.
“Many of us are married, so you can imagine how difficult life is when you have a wife and children to look after. There is sometimes a sense of being nothing when you cannot provide for your family,” he told “The Mercury” yesterday.
He praised union leaders for standing by workers under difficult circumstances.
Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal said it was elated and heartened by the reinstatement, stressing that workers had been dismissed in 2020 for simply fighting for their rights.
The labour federation’s KwaZulu-Natal secretary, Edwin Mkhize, also expressed concern that government workers, especially at municipal level, have become casualties of the factional battles within the ANC, with many of them getting suspended or even dismissed over a perceived political affiliation.
The reinstatement of the 121 workers comes just weeks after Newcastle Municipality reinstated workers who had also been dismissed in 2019 when the municipality was still under the control of the ANC.
“These Ugu municipal workers were dismissed around March 2020 after they objected to an unfair dismissal of their union shop stewards,” said Mkhize.
Since then the federation, along with its affiliate, the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), had fought against this, eventually leading to their reinstatement.
Their reinstatement, the federation insisted, underlined its position that it had been handled recklessly.
“These workers are back at work this week. These Ugu employees have been reinstated with a 12-month back pay, and all parties have agreed to continue negotiating regarding the issue of pension benefits,” said Mkhize.
“Our call is that politicians must stop politicising and factionalising the workplace, because such a practice cannot be good for the functioning of structures entrusted with the responsibility of delivering services to the people.”
Ugu region Samwu chairperson Mthandeni Ngcobo, said they were happy that all their members were back at work, but cautioned against any moves to victimise them.
“We will do everything we can to protect them because that is our responsibility as the union,” said Ngcobo.
The union chairperson reiterated that it wouldn’t allow themselves to be used by anyone for political purposes, stressing that they simply wanted workers to be protected.
Attempts to get comment from Ugu district were unsuccessful.
Last week, the municipality confirmed the reinstatement and that the workers would receive back-pay.