6 February 2014
The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape Province is gravely concerned about the continuous dispute between the workers and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM). This continued dispute and standoff between workers and the BCMM is at the great cost to the majority of the people as the basic services are compromised because of the impulse.
We call upon the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to withdraw the court proceedings in favour of the negotiated settlement as workers have the genuine demand to ensure that there is parity. As the SACP, we have raised our concern on how the negotiations are led especially by SALGA. Worst is that even SALGA employees have been working without enjoying any benefits for more than a decade. It is in this context that we doubt the capacity of SALGA in providing the much desired leadership on the matter.
We are calling upon the leadership of BCMM to follow the example of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality taking into account its specific financial muscle to settle the matter. We are of the view that there is no need to be stuck on the 14th cheque, a settlement can be reached outside the court on items agreed on by both parties.
We also wish to call upon workers to avoid any actions that are likely to delegitimize their genuine demands and be vigilant of agent provocateurs that can highjack their struggles for motives that are outside the interest of the workers.
As the SACP we wish to express our support to the demands of the workers and our will to playing our role to ensure the resolution on the matter.
Issued by SACP Eastern Cape.
Contact:
Siyabonga Mdodi
SACP EC Provincial Spokesperson
0833588070