Samwu says #RamokgopaMustFall
Samwu has initiated a campaign to remove Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa under the banner #RamokgopaMustFall.
|||Pretoria - The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has initiated a campaign to remove Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa under the banner #RamokgopaMustFall, making a long list of allegations against city management.
But the city dismissed allegations made by the union, giving details of what happened in each case.
Samwu national deputy general-secretary Simon Mathe said the campaign was in line with the resolution taken at a two-day Tshwane regional conference last week.
He was speaking at a media conference at the Tshwane Bus Services (TBS) depot in Pretoria on Wednesday, where he made allegations of corruption and maladministration against the city management.
He said the union intended to open criminal cases against Ramokgopa and city manager Jason Ngobeni for the alleged ongoing corruption in the municipality.
The union would approach the police by the end of Thursday to make a statement and present the evidence regarding a number of corruption cases, he said, adding that the union would give the city a seven-day ultimatum to withdraw all the notices of intention to suspend workers, who included some metro police and TBS bus drivers. Failure by the city managers to heed to the union’s call would result in services being brought to a standstill, he said.
He said among the issues were:
Samwu has a case against the city over a company selling fuel at Wonderboom Airport despite the fact that it didn’t have the operating licence in line with the Petroleum Act.
There was racism at the Centurion depot fleet management, where black workers were allegedly still being called “k*****s and forced to use separate toilets.
Broken vehicles at the fleet management department had not been repaired because the city management didn’t want to approve a budget to fix them. Instead, he alleged that R20 million had been used for tenders not budgeted for.
The tender to care for city’s horses “was given to Ramokgopa’s cronies”. He said the company appointed did not provide the services stipulated.
The city had also allegedly purchased three nyalas for the Tshwane Metro Police Department at a cost of R7 million, but those had still not been delivered.
“All the metro police who have raised issues on this matter have been served with intention to suspend,” he said.
He accused the city of resorting to inducing fear on the union shop stewards by either suspending or charging them for misconduct.
There were allegations that 530 city vehicles, recorded on eNatis, were not on the city’s asset register.
Mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said the tenants and aircraft operators based at Wonderboom Airport were granted the opportunity to sell fuel according to the civil aviation regulations.
He said the matter of disciplinary proceedings against the bus drivers and other employees of the TBS, who participated in an unprotected strike early in October, had been referred to the Labour Court.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za
Pretoria News
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