The Witness reports that refuse collection services across Msunduzi face further disruptions after municipal waste management workers blocked access to the city’s Havelock Road depot and vowed to continue protesting until long-standing salary grading disputes are resolved. The protesting employees on Monday blocked access to the depot by burning tyres and piling rubble at the entrance, preventing waste collection vehicles and other municipal service trucks from entering or leaving the premises.
The action raised fears of delays in refuse collection across the municipality if the standoff is not resolved swiftly. At the centre of the dispute is a long-running grievance over salary grading. Workers claim that during the municipality’s recent appearance before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), City management, including Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla, stated that no general workers were employed on salary grade T3 and that all general workers were paid on grade T5.
The protesters, however, insist that many of them remain on the lower T3 salary scale. They are demanding that the municipality honour what they believe was communicated to Parliament and upgrade them to the T5 salary level. An employee, who identified herself only as Gugu, said workers had been fighting since 2018 for their grading to be increased to T7, but management had ignored their pleas. Area councillor Daniel Kemp warned residents that some areas could experience interruptions and backlogs in waste removal and water-related services from Monday.
“In addition, water service teams are currently unable to attend to reported complaints, as access to the depot has been blocked, preventing employees from carrying out their duties,” said Kemp. He said senior management was aware of the situation and actively engaging to resolve the matter.
“Once access is restored, teams will be deployed to address outstanding delays and reported faults as a priority. We kindly ask residents for their patience and understanding during this period. Further updates will be communicated as soon as more information becomes available,” he said.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) regional chairperson, Njabulo Shabalala, said workers were within their rights to demand answers and salary adjustments where commitments had been made. He added that the protest would continue until their demands were met.
“We have managers whose qualifications are questionable, and no action is taken to bring clarity to such allegations, and these managers are earning substantial salaries. We condemn the ongoing abuse of employees in this municipality.” Msunduzi faced tough questioning in Parliament last Wednesday. Municipal executives were asked to explain why forensic investigations had been removed from the office of the chief internal audit executive and placed under the municipal manager.
The move deepened concerns about the municipality’s finances and its closing balance of fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which stands at R248,6 million. The municipality is also grappling with creditor payment issues, taking an average of 191 days to settle accounts — far beyond the legally required 30 days. Meanwhile, 87% of accounts receivable have been impaired because the municipality does not expect to recover the debt. Msunduzi spokesperson Ntobeko Mkhize said management was concerned by any action that interfered with municipal operations, restricted access to facilities or disrupted critical services.
She said such actions were unlawful and undermined the municipality’s ability to serve residents and businesses effectively. “While some employees continued to perform their duties, the obstruction of access to municipal facilities affected normal operations and necessitated management intervention. Management is attending to the situation through the appropriate internal processes and is taking steps to restore full operational normality as swiftly as possible,” she said. Mkhize rejected suggestions that Scopa had been misled.
“Municipal officials who appeared before Scopa did so in fulfilment of their constitutional obligation to account before an oversight body and responded to questions based on information available to the administration at the time.
“Additional information and supporting documentation arising from the engagement with Scopa is currently being consolidated for submission to the committee as part of the municipality’s ongoing cooperation with the parliamentary oversight process,” she said.
by Chris Ndaliso