Members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) spent their lunchtime break on Monday and Tuesday picketing at the gates of the Makhado Municipality, hoping that the municipal manager would respond to their grievances.
The workers are demanding that the municipal manager, Mr Isaac Mutshinyali, advertise vacant posts within the municipality internally.
While addressing the crowd, Samwu chairperson Mr Elvis Tlou told workers that if the manager didn't respond, the protest actions would intensify. He added that they had consulted with their legal team and if the picket didn't attract the attention of Mutshinyali, they would apply for permission to have a protest march.
Some workers were saying that if Mutshinyali, who had completed his first year in office the previous day, did not co-operate with the workers that he would not last, just like the previous managers who had not finished their terms.
According to Samwu, there are workers who are doing duty in an acting capacity in vacant post, but they were not being paid for the extra work. Some employees have done this for almost six years, without being remunerated accordingly. Samwu said they had consulted with the mayor, the Chief Whip and the Speaker and they had furnished the mandate to the manager, but he was not acting on their complaints.
"We had a meeting about the posts. The manager must show the posts to the local labour forum (LLF) ... before they are advertised," said the union secretary, Sylvester Mulaudzi. "We are asking the manager to initially advertise vacant post internally," he said.
The municipal spokesperson, Louis Bobodi, said that they were surprised to see workers picketing since the negotiations between the management and the workers were proceeding.