Waterless Ugu municipality accuses striking workers of stealing valves from reservoir
Ugu district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has opened seven cases of sabotage after striking workers tampered with the water system, resulting in tourism ventures, local businesses and residents going for days without water. Areas affected by the water cuts include coastal tourist havens of Port Shepstone, Ramsgate, Uvongo Beach, Hibberdene, Margate and Port Edward. The current strike is supported by the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), whose members are unhappy with deductions to their salaries for not coming to work during an illegal work stoppage late in 2017. Samwu is also demanding that suspended shop stewards be brought back to work. On Tuesday, Ugu district municipality manager Dhanpalan Naidoo said the sabotage to its water installation and infrastructure was linked to the wildcat strike. "We are doing all we can to fix the valves that were stolen in our reservoir. We have opened seven cases of sabotage with the police because we believe that what the striking ...
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