Municipality workers, supported by tenants of flats owned by the North West Housing Corporation (NWHC), will strike on Wednesday to oppose the privatisation of services, the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said on Tuesday.
Samwu spokesperson Moshe Sedike said the plan to privatise was carried out ”against the wishes of Samwu and the MEC for developmental local government and housing [Frans Vilakazi]”.
”The management approach is a clear declaration of war against the MEC and the union,” he said.
Sedike said Samwu wanted the NWHC to include Vilakazi and the union when making plans to privatise services at the firm as this directly affected the wellbeing of their members.
”Tomorrow, Wednesday… Samwu members will embark on protected industrial action against unilateral privatisation of services by management,” he said.
It was recently reported that the NWHC was to close because it was operating on a deficit of almost R1-million a month, Sedike said.
”Samwu and the MEC agree in principle that the institution shall not close,” he said. ”We have distanced ourselves from nonsensical and unfounded utterings…”
Sedike said Samwu members who work for the Mafikeng local municipality, the central district municipality and Botshelo Water would take part in the strike on Wednesday. – Sapa