KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said she hoped the labour dispute would be resolved soon.
Image: FILE
Members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP) in Pietermaritzburg have been accused of blocking the construction of a government clinic in a dispute over salaries paid to workers by the contractor appointed to complete the project.
The Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal revealed that a clinic in the Pietermaritzburg area has been delayed after people claiming to be MKP members blocked work over salary disputes.
The latest development comes after the business community expressed its outrage at organisations affiliated with political parties closing down and intimidating businesses.
The Chambers of Business in Pietermaritzburg and Durban expressed outrage recently, stating that organisations affiliated with political parties are damaging business confidence in these cities by conducting inspections and, in some cases, closing down operations in those businesses for days.
The chambers warned that this conduct poses a threat to an already fragile business confidence and undermines investments. While they did not mention the organisation involved, an organisation called Laco, which started off as the MKP labour desk, has been at the forefront of this activity in the Pietermaritzburg area, where it has closed down several shops it accused of illegally exploiting workers and paying them less than what they should be paid.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane, briefed members of the Health Portfolio Committee recently on the issue. She stated that members of the MKP are demanding improved salaries for employees working on the project, whereas the contractors believe the salaries being paid are the highest in the sector. Simelane expressed hope that the matter would be resolved soon and the project would resume.
“The matter I also briefed the committee on is the Mpolweni clinic (outside Pietermaritzburg) that we have been having serious difficulties with, particularly with communities and some community members. Right now, that project has been stopped by members of the MKP in the area because they want to reorganise the workers, and they are insisting that the service provider must pay the workers a particular rate while the service provider is insisting that the rate he is paying is within the Department of Labour regulations.
“We are working on resolving the issue between the two so that the project gets finished. It’s a project that has been on the ground for about 34 months now, and it should come to an end very soon. The reason it has been delayed is purely because of the back-and-forth between the service provider and the community in the area,” said Simelane.
KwaZulu-Natal MKP leader Willies Mchunu said they are not aware of the issue. “This is the first time I am hearing of this. They (the provincial government) do not talk to us; they choose to go around discussing us in public, even disgracing us, even on matters that, if they had spoken to us about, we would have been able to help.
“We do not know what would have been the context of this discussion, as this sounds like a matter between employer and employees. But we are going to be investigating the allegations that have been made.”
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