Disgruntled fire fighters shut-down operations at SDM main offices
Groblersdal
Fire fighters attached with Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM), have since on Tuesday 5 September, staged a total-shutdown suspending all operations at SDM head offices in Groblersdal.
The employees, employed by the district municipality through the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP), say they are demonstrating because they have not receive their salaries for the past two months.
They say the last payment was made in their bank accounts in June and no one is explaining why they have not receive their payment in July and August.
During the ongoing demonstration, the fire fighters have barricaded the main entrance of SDM offices, preventing entry to office workers and clients who are visiting the institution to pay for municipal services. The group vow to continue suspending normal operations at the municipality until their demands are met.
A fire fighter who did not want to be named, said they have been engaging with SDM management for the past two weeks, trying to get clarity about the delayed payment.
“No one want to take accountability on the delayed payment. We have even met with the municipality CFO and still there is no clarity on why the salaries were not paid. It is straining because we rely only on our salaries for survival. Our children have defaulted their schools fees, we have no food to eat yet they expect us to come to work as if nothing is happening,” he said.
He said they will continue turning away everyone and only people allowed in the building are employees working in the finance office.
“We allow no one to enter the building as we continue about a total-shutdown of the institution. We only allow those who work in finance because we want them to process our payment. We are not backing down until our demands are met,” he said.
The fire fighter said some of the employees have been in the EPWP programme for the past ten years, whereas, the district municipality has since promised to absorb them on permanent basis.
“The majority of fire fighters are working through the EPWP programme for almost the past decade. We are promised to be absorbed and for almost the past ten years, nothing is happening. They are not taking us seriously. This is amongst other reasons we are demonstrating. We are acting as a collective, we can even take the whole week or months making sure that the municipality is not operating until our demands are met,” he said.
At the time of going to print, SDM Spokesperson, Kgetjepe Maredi, could not be reached for a comment as he could not respond to the publication’s WhatsApp messages and phone calls.
