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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has been reliably informed that the Mogale City’s Department of Utilities Management employees are currently on strike. They have barricaded the roads and are burning tyres along Tudor road next to their offices over salary disputes and the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The department’s employees have been on a go-slow since last week Friday.

They claim that they have not yet been paid for the hours that they have worked during the national lockdown.

The employees also claim that they do not have proper PPE to ensure their safety during this critical period. They have vowed not to return to work until their demands are met.

Electrical faults reported by residents were not attended to and residents were told by the employees that they are on a go slow and that they will be attended to eventually.

Many wards across the City had service delivery interruptions over the weekend particularly in wards 22, 18, 37 and 38. The refuse has not been collected in some of the wards.

It is the responsibility of this municipality to ensure the safety of its workers by providing them with PPE as gazetted in the Disaster Management Act.

We will not allow this municipality to put the lives of the workers at risk by not safeguarding employees against the spread of this deadly coronavirus.

For far too long, the DA has been against the ANC-led Mogale City’s adoption of a top layer organogram which has a big wage gap between the employees in the lower and upper levels. This top layer organogram gives the executive management inflated packages while the bulk of the workforce which does the majority of the work earns very little.

The DA calls on the Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC, Lebogang Maile to intervene as a matter of urgency to ensure that this wage dispute is resolved, employees are provided with proper PPE and that service delivery resumes as a matter of urgency.

Issued by The DA