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- Angry residents continued to protest over water and power outages.
- The outages stem from an allegedly illegal strike by Samwu-affiliated municipal workers.
- The strike is over, but service delivery backlogs persist.
Frustrated residents in various parts of Durban took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against power and water outages.
The residents complained about unattended water and power outages since 27 February, when eThekwini municipality staffers aligned to the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) downed tools and engaged in an allegedly illegal strike over wages.
The striking workers demanded a 15% salary increase or R4 000 wage top-up to match the salaries of workers in other metros.
Earlier on Wednesday, residents in Lindelani, north of Durban, used burning car tyres and concrete bricks to create blockades.
They complained that they had been without power for more than a week.
Residents in neighbouring Phoenix were also seen setting alight tyres, demonstrating and chanting.
One angry resident said: "There's no indication when [electricity is] going to be restored. We have complained every day, but there's no response. Only neighbouring communities are getting help."
READ | Dump-it-yourself: eThekwini metro offers free refuse drop-off as Samwu strike continues
"We are just told that municipal workers are fearing for their lives."
In KwaMashu, some residents said they were without water since Sunday.
News24 previously reported that the areas worst affected by poor service delivery included:
- Hillcrest
- Embo
- Mariannridge
- Mpola
- Ntuzuma
- Inanda
- Redcliffe
- Buffelsdraai
- Waterloo
- Parkgate
- Umlazi
- KwaMakhutha
- Adams Mission
- eNgonyameni
- Phoenix
- Verulam
- oThongathi
- Trenance Park
- KwaXimba
On Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal police arrested five of several women at Thokoza hostel in the CBD after they allegedly "threw objects" at the police.
The women's hostel has been without electricity for nearly two weeks and the women, most of whom are indigent, complained that their food was rotting because fridges were not working. They said they were also unable to iron clothes for their school going children and added that the power outage was compromising their safety.
Samwu called off its strike on Monday amid discussions with the municipality.
However, as of Wednesday afternoon, rubbish remained uncollected in various parts of the city, while complaints over a lack of water and electricity persisted.
Municipality response
On Wednesday, the mayor of eThekwini, Mxolisi Kaunda, told reporters that 88 workers had been fired for participating in an illegal strike which had caused "a massive service delivery backlog" over the past two weeks.
He said 81 others were suspended, and 1 891 workers received notices of misconduct.
Disciplinary hearings for the suspended workers are expected over the next three working days.
The mayor condemned the violence which characterised the strike, adding that at least one person, a cemetery supervisor in Umlazi, was killed during protests.
The circumstances surrounding her death are being investigated by the police, Kaunda said.
READ | 'Tantamount to treason': KZN premier condemns 'illegal' Samwu-led strike in eThekwini
He said most employees had since returned to work - and he was confident the backlogs would be addressed over the course of the month.
Kaunda said: "As of yesterday, we have started to see the majority of employees returning to work, particularly at engineering, electricity and water and sanitation units.
"We anticipate that we will be able to clear the waste backlog within two weeks, especially in the vast southern region of the city - from Umlazi up to Umkhomazi."
He said that, since Tuesday, electricity faults had been "reduced from 80 to 50".
Kaunda added that police and private security companies were escorting staffers attending to areas affected by water and power outages.
