Makana’s senior management and other stakeholders are stepping into the breach as some Makhanda residents face a second week without water. An unofficial go-slow is the reason some parts of town have had dry taps since last week. The undeclared industrial action began after Makana workers’ overtime pay for July was put on hold because of cash flow problems in the municipality. Dispatch Live will be reporting on the latest repercussions of the water outages; meanwhile, Municipal Manager Phumelele Kate responds to questions from Talk of the Town’s Sue Maclennan.
Please confirm that staff are in dispute with Makana management about overtime payments. What is the status of this dispute?
Staff have not formally declared a dispute; however the matter of overtime has not been resolved between workers and management. The municipality acknowledges that workers are owed overtime for July; however because of financial challenges, we are not able to pay it yet. That is why they are unhappy.
Please can you confirm that the widespread and prolonged water outages of the past week have been due to staff engaging in strike action.
As far as we know, workers are not on strike: they are coming to work, but are not performing any after hours duties until they receive payment for July overtime. However, it is correct that this is the cause of the water outages. It is because workers are refusing to carry out certain operations. For example, the water supply has to be switched off at night – valves have to be closed so that the various reservoirs can fill up overnight. Then they have to be opened early in the morning so residents can have water during the day. Workers are refusing to carry out any operations outside normal working hours, and they are also not allowing others to work outside normal hours.
How are they enforcing this?
We have had reports that staff working after hours have been threatened. Threats have been made to them directly, or to their families.
What processes are and have been under way regarding the dispute?
This problem is caused by the municipality not being able to collect enough revenue to sustain it financially. Our focus is on collecting as much as possible in rates so our coffers are restored to a healthy state and we can pay the outstanding overtime.
How is the collecting being done?
We are trying to intensify our credit control measures, as well as address disputes in respect of accounts. It’s a difficult situation: we want to improve service delivery. To achieve that we need people to pay for services – but people are reluctant to pay for what they consider poor service.
Is there a timeline for staff to return to their duties and the situation to be resolved?
As senior management we have taken it upon ourselves to intervene directly in practical ways. Anything we can do to make sure things get done, we are doing. There are also other stakeholders involved who are acting to mitigate the disruption to services.
There are certain low-lying areas where water has been available more or less continuously. High-lying areas haven’t been getting water because the reservoirs haven’t been balanced – something that is necessary if everyone is to get water.
Today we are on site at the reservoirs, doing the controls necessary to achieve this.
In addition to staff who have been carrying out essentia tasks allegedly being threatened, we have heard that disgruntled workers allegedly blocked access to vehicles and facilities. Will any disciplinary action be taken against staff who failed to perform their duties and/or prevented others from doing theirs during the past week?
Definitely there will be disciplinary action, and we are following all leads. It’s very important that threats are reported. In addition workers must be at work and performing their duties during the day: we are monitoring that. We know there are those who may be on a go-slow; but if a person’s job is usually done during normal working hours, they are required do it.
It was my observation today that while two Gift of the Givers water tankers were dispatched from Adelaide and Fort Beaufort to serve vulnerable communities in Makhanda during the water outage, three were standing idle at the Trollope Street electricity depot. Please can you comment?
There are three tankers standing at our stores and there are [various] problems with them. We are trying to fast-track getting them back online as soon as possible, because not having those available compounds the problem.
What measures did the municipality take to ensure that vulnerable populations such as retirement homes and informal settlements had access to water while the strike continued?
We have sent water tankers to some of those areas. We are also aware that the Gift of the Givers is in Town assisting those vulnerable communities, and we appreciate that.
Can you confirm that Makana’s cash flow challenges include the requirement to pay Eskom R57,989,912.20 by August 31 and will Makana be in a position to pay this?
Yes, I can confirm that as per the leaked letter from the chief financial officer, Makana is behind in honouring our debt to Eskom and so by the end of August we will owe for both July and August.
Because of the current drive to improve our cash flow, I believe we will be in a position to pay Eskom at the end of August.
