Department of. Water AFFAIRS & Sanitation Bulletin

Transcription

1 Department of Water AFFAIRS & Sanitation Bulletin

2 The national union {NEHAWU} convened a department of water affairs and sanitation national meeting on the 20th at Parktonian Hotel. The meeting was convened as a directive of the central executive committee which was held in December 2017, which amongst others directed the union to; mobilise our members to campaign against the current situation and maladministration of public funds in the department that resulted in our members being compromised. Also the meeting was convened to respond to the current dispute of mutual interest around conditions of employment of construction workers, which also includes the payment of merit bonuses and promotions. union does in the different sectors that the national union organises in. The meeting must make a reflection as to what extent do we unify workers in the workplace under the leadership of NEHAWU, a red transformative public sector union. The responsibility of leadership is to provide strategic guidance at all material times. As part of moving forward given the nature of hostility in the department, how best as a union should we respond to it without dividing ourselves on issues. Summary of the Keynote Input by The National Executive Committee of October 2017, took a decision to take the fight to the department of water and sanitation, and as a result of that decision a national meeting was convened in November 2017 and the CEC in December also looked at the issues of the department. The issue of water affairs in the CEC arose in two sections namely; under socioeconomic assessment and organisational assessment. General Secretary Cde Zola Saphetha The summarised version of the keynote input by the General Secretary, Comrade Zola Saphetha at the department of water and sanitation national meeting: The meeting is convened as a directive of the first central executive committee of the 11th national congress. The meeting must appreciate that NEHAWU is an industrial public sector union not a craft union, this therefore requires comrades to be conscious of what the The CEC looked unto the issue of the department from a policy perspective and landscape in the context of the scarcity of water, which is an ideological matter because the class that suffers the most from scarcity is the working class not the bourgeois class. Under socio-economic the CEC raised very important ideological issues, firstly temptation and only viable option of contracting water services with the private sector because of scarcity and our State cares-less about the well-being of its citizens and care more about selfenrichment at the expense of the working class. 2

3 The scarcity of water compounded by all the myriad of challenges at the department of water and sanitation are as a direct result of corruption by our comrades deployed by the movement. Once the State enters into contracting water with the private sector, it will mean that there would be increments on rates, which are going to have a direct impact on us as the working-class. When we speak of looting of State resources, we speak about such things that are going-on at the various state water enterprises and other enterprises. These are the services that our people are so desperately in need of. As a union, we must be vigilant against the outsourcing and privatisation of the water enterprises, as that would lead to job losses. The private sector companies have moved away from manual labour work and have introduced technology under what they term as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, whereby machines will be replacing human-being for labour and this is starting to happen in the country as we have noticed with the introduction of robotic till machines at selected Pick n Pay stores and other business e.g. Spar. All these issue are socio-economic matters. On organisational, under collective bargaining - The nature of challenges that comrades are confronted with and the basic conditions of service, the issue of trying to strike a sound labour peace and effective bargaining chamber. These are important matters that the union must pay particular attention at the department. We must have an organisation that is able to pick-up, drive and champion issues of workers at all material times. The union must have an approach to deal with the high level of corruption. Ours as a union is to provide quality service to our members. The CEC mandated the union to have a national programme of the department, the programme must be about going back to basics, leadership interfacing with members directly. Quality Service for the growth of NEHAWU The national meeting was joined by the President Comrade Mzwandile Makwayiba, who gave a clear line of march to comrades. The summarised version of the line of march by the President, Comrade Mzwandile Makwayiba. It would be pointless for the union to convene a national meeting of water and sanitation if there was no organisation at the level of the branch. Equally pointless if the organisation does not exist at the level of the region and also the level of the province. As a national union, the first most important is to organise effectively and conquer the workplace to be the majority union. The department of water and sanitation is seriously outsourced and it s a very important and strategic department for the organisation. 3

4 In each and every department, the national union needs a membership over 50% + 1 and over and above that, the union needs more than a 1 million members. The reason why it s important to have those numbers it s because numbers give you access to power, numbers give you access to politics and numbers facilitate politics. Numbers makes you recognised for your strength to organise effectively by providing quality service. In order for the union to achieve its targets for membership growth, we need to have quality service, militant shop-stewards and effective organisers. That would translate in having effective departmental chambers that are controlled by the national union. In that regard, the membership department is central to the growth of the union, membership capturing is the bloodline of the national union. Conclusions and Way-Forward (a) The union is against any form of corruption and maladministration in any government departments including the department of Water Affairs and Sanitation as such acts remains counter-revolutionary and compromises quality service to the people in general and comprises better wages for workers in particular. In this regard, the union directed the following provinces: i. Eastern Cape province to submit a detail information to head office regarding the appointment of the security company that is currently providing service nation-wide as allegedly associated with some senior leaders in the department by the 23rd. ii. KZN province to submit information regarding all areas of investigations which are incomplete or with their outcomes not been made publicly known on corruption iii. and also evidence in this regard to head office by the 23rd for processing. North West province to provide points of reference regarding the Chinese Shenanigan exchange of money with the department. In this regard, the National Organizer, National Coordinators, Fulltime shop steward and Negotiator must urgently work on the contents of these points of reference with Head: Paralegal with the intention to open criminal case(s) against the Minister, where possible refer matters to the Office of the Director General and/or Public Protector for the overhaul investigation. iv. Limpopo province must develop a programme taking the national union and COSATU leadership to Nwamitwa Village in Tzaneen to meet with our members in their respective workplaces, Chiefs of the village and community in order to pledge our support and if needs be, mobilize members to build the dam as promised 20 years ago. (b) The Secretariat must urgently establish a team of four (4) comrades who will work with the Head: PDU in order to develop a discussion paper on the scarcity of water and the right of citizens to water for robust internal discussion as part of preparing for COSATU Congress to be held in September This paper must also make concrete proposals on the possible organizational structure responsive to the departmental set-up nationally. (c) The union rejects vehemently the agentisation and outsourcing of services as such the memorandum to be handedover to the Minister will include this principle position of our national union on the national day of action for immediate response. (d) The union must issue a statement rejecting the proposal of the Minister on the 4

5 (e) establishment of a single Catchment Management Agency (CMA). The statement must include amongst others the demand for the removal of the Director: Labour Relations and the position of the union to disrupt provincial consultative meetings aimed at providing feedback on the establishment process. The head office working with provinces must develop a national programme taking the national, provincial and regional office bearers to all workplaces of the department of Water Affairs and Sanitation in the next two weeks. A consolidated national workplace programme of action must be submitted by OSEC to Secretariat by Tuesday, 23rd for NOB deployment. (f) The National Organizer, Negotiator, Full-time shop steward must immediately meet with the Head: Legal to look onto Arbitration Awards and Awards under review by the department. (g) The national union working with Northern Cape province must follow-up on the (h) (i) (j) Gauteng END machines that are not utilized in Jan Kempsdorp including the white elephant training center which the state spends millions on. The Secretariat working with OSEC must identify a date for a national day of action directed the national union to the department to submit a memorandum listing the demands of our members. The membership officer, national organizer and full-time shop steward must urgently work on the membership clean-up and recruitment campaign as an integral part of the mobilization programme in the department. Cde. Morongwa Mothiba and Motape Motokwe were elected National Coordinators for construction and water affairs respectively. Limpopo Issued by NEHAWU Communications Department 56 Marshall Street, Marshall Town P.O. Box 10812, Johannesburg, 2000 Tel: Fax: Tel: info@nehawu.org.za Website:- Add your union as a friend on facebook follow your union on instagram follow your union on twitter 5