Emfuleni Local Municipality

#DirtyDozen – Residents and businesses in the Golden Triangle are furious about illegal ELM power cuts due to alleged non-payment, while twelve councillors from the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), who received the well-deserved nickname of “Dirty Dozen,” have not been cut off, notwithstanding the fact that they together owe R355,010 in outstanding electricity payments. Ordinary residents and businesses on the other hand were summarily cut off without knowledge or warning.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Golden Triangle (GTCoC) is now demanding a total moratorium on electricity disconnections of residents and businesses, until the municipality can comply with the relevant laws and procedures.

Listen Here:

The Emfuleni Local Municipality says its employees, working in various departments and office buildings in Vanderbijlpark, were violently chased away from their work-stations by fellow striking employees, or general workers, today.

Emfuleni said this disrupted the provision of services and inconvenienced residents and non-striking workers. ELM said the general workers have been on an illegal strike since the beginning this month in a dispute over salaries and awards.

Following a meeting between management and representatives of the striking workers yesterday, the Municipal Manager (MM), Dithabe Nkoane, pleaded with protesting workers to urgently return to their work stations and warned that the “no work, no pay” principle will be applied. Upon receiving a report on the matter, the ELM Mayoral Committee yesterday resolved that the award should be taken for review. This resolution will be tabled in a Council Sitting for a decision tomorrow. ELM said
Continue reading…