WATCH | Msunduzi strike sparks calls for presidential intervention

As thousands of Msunduzi residents and businesses endured a fifth day without electricity on Monday, frustrated community members appealed directly to President Cyril Ramaphosa and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli for intervention, saying the escalating municipal strike had turned a service delivery dispute into a humanitarian and economic crisis.

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The appeal came as parts of Pietermaritzburg remained without power, businesses continued to suffer mounting losses and pupils struggled to prepare for examinations amid ongoing outages linked to an indefinite strike by members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu).

Pietermaritzburg resident Manisha Mahabeer has written to Ramaphosa, Ntuli, chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Zweli Mkhize, and the South African Human Rights Commission, calling for urgent intervention and accountability from municipal leadership.

In her letter, Mahabeer said the situation had gone beyond mere inconvenience and had become a matter of dignity, wellbeing and basic human rights.

She said many households had been forced to throw away spoiled food while spending additional money on gas, candles and firewood to cope with the prolonged outages.

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Mahabeer said pupils writing examinations were among those hardest hit.

Our children are expected to study and prepare for important assessments without proper lighting and under conditions of immense stress and uncertainty. Their education is being negatively impacted through no fault of their own.

She questioned what contingency measures had been put in place after municipal workers submitted a memorandum of demands earlier this month and warned of possible industrial action.

Mahabeer called for an independent investigation into the crisis and greater accountability from municipal leadership.

“The people of Msunduzi deserve competent governance, responsible leadership and respect for their constitutional rights. We deserve better than prolonged outages and uncertainty,” she said.

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The Witness forwarded Mahabeer’s open letter directly to presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.

The strike, which Samwu has declared indefinite, showed no signs of ending on Monday.

Union and municipal officials remained locked in a closed-door meeting late into the evening in an effort to break the deadlock, with no agreement reached by the time of publication.

Samwu chairperson Brandon George said the parties had to restart engagements.

Once again, I would like to say that we have no intention of disrupting service delivery to the residents of the city. Just as residents are struggling with service delivery in the city, so too are municipal workers struggling with the issues they have with the municipality.

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“We approached the accounting officer for our strike certificate and the municipality had time to address these issues, but it did not. If we get a concrete agreement, then we can have a meeting with the local labour forum and decide whether the strike can end or not,” said George.

Msunduzi Municipality said it is actively engaging with the situation and working towards a resolution.

“Despite these challenges, service delivery continues, with teams being dispatched, in line with the minimum service-level agreement, to attend to reported faults. However, response times are currently longer than usual, particularly for water, sanitation and electricity-related service requests,” the municipality said.

It added that access to municipal buildings, including AS Chetty and Professor Nyembezi, remained a challenge.

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The continuing dispute has left residents and businesses increasingly frustrated as electricity faults remain unresolved in several parts of the city.

In the Raisethorpe CBD, the constant hum of generators filled the air as businesses battled another day without electricity.

Residents resorted to wood fires while business owners scrambled to limit financial losses.

Shireen Sonny, owner of Gifts Galore, said the outages were affecting both her business and home.

We don’t have electricity at the store or at home. We have two stores and there are power outages in both areas. We cannot even afford to keep generators running all the time. I have been at this shop for 26 years, but as time goes by we are being affected more and more by these outages.

Another business owner, who asked not to be named, said the prolonged outage was forcing the business to discard expired stock.

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“We are spending about R400 a day just to keep a generator running. The fridges are off and we can only keep the lights on. We cannot open early or stay open until our normal closing time because it gets too dark. Residents are really suffering as a result of this strike,” the owner said.

The business community has also voiced growing concern over the impact of the strike on the local economy.

Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business CEO Melanie Veness described the damage to municipal infrastructure and disruption of essential services as unacceptable.

The city has been trashed and our infrastructure has been damaged by people who get paid with our rates money. It’s absolutely mind-boggling.

While acknowledging workers’ constitutional right to strike, she condemned alleged acts of intimidation and damage to infrastructure.

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“This behaviour is criminal and those responsible should face disciplinary action and the appropriate legal consequences,” she said, adding that several electricity faults remained unresolved because workers and contractors were allegedly being prevented from carrying out repairs.

“The economic losses are mounting and the business community is getting very tired of our economy being treated like a football that anyone with a gripe or agenda can kick around with no consequences,” she said.

Last week, Msunduzi Municipality approached the Labour Court seeking an urgent interdict to curb strike-related disruptions affecting electricity supply, refuse collection and other essential services.

Municipal manager Felakhe Mndebele said the municipality sought legal intervention after industrial action began affecting service delivery and raising concerns about employee safety.

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Mndebele alleged that some striking workers had breached picketing rules, intimidated colleagues reporting for duty, damaged municipal vehicles and contributed to disruptions across the city.

Although the court later struck the application from the roll, the municipality said its primary objective had been achieved because no strike action took place during the Comrades Marathon on Sunday.