WATCH | Msunduzi waste workers down tools over salary dispute

Refuse collection services across Msunduzi face further disruptions after municipal waste management workers blocked access to the city’s Havelock Road depot and vowed to continue protesting until long-standing salary grading disputes are resolved. The protesting employees on Monday blocked access to the depot by burning tyres and piling rubble at the entrance, preventing waste collection vehicles and other municipal service trucks from entering or leaving the premises. The action raised fears of delays in refuse collection across the municipality if the standoff is not resolved swiftly.

At the centre of the dispute is a long-running grievance over salary grading. Workers claim that during the municipality’s recent appearance before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), City management, including Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla, stated that no general workers were employed on salary grade T3 and that all general workers were paid on grade T5. The protesters, however, insist that many of them remain on the lower T3 salary scale.

They are demanding that the municipality honour what they believe was communicated to Parliament and upgrade them to the T5 salary level. An employee, who identified herself only as Gugu, said workers had been fighting since 2018 for their grading to be increased to T7, but management had ignored their pleas. Now we demand that an adjustment be made with immediate effect. Area councillor Daniel Kemp warned residents that some areas could experience interruptions and backlogs in waste removal and water-related services from Monday.