SAMWU wants corruption probe to continue

[Newsroom]

Pretoria - The resignation of Pikitup managing director Zami Nkosi should fast track investigations into allegations of corruption by officials at the waste management agency, the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) said on Monday.

It said the resignation of Nkosi should not mean an end to their demand for a thorough investigation into alleged irregularities involving millions of rands.

The City of Johannesburg announced Nkosi’s resignation on Saturday after refuse workers went on strike on Thursday demanding, among other things, that an internal investigation be commissioned into allegations of corruption and tender irregularities.

“While we welcome the resignation of Mr Nkosi as a step in the right direction, our demand still stands and we call on those concerned to speed up the process of investigation because for us, the resignation alone does not signify anything, we want action,” Samwu spokesperson Tahir Sema told BuaNews on Monday.

A Samwu task team was expected to meet with municipal officials to develop terms of reference for the investigation.

It will comprise three members from the union, and three from the employer. Also included in Samwu’s demands is an immediate “stop of money being wasted on contract workers”, adding that temporary contracts be changed to permanent employment.

“We are also demanding that management look into wage disparities that exist and have existed in the department for many years,” said Sema.

Sema added that negotiations were still underway to find a solution to end the strike by the workers.

“We are very happy with the state of negotiations and we will be taking a proposal to the workers and our mandate will depend on what they say,” he said refusing to say what proposals negotiators agreed on. – BuaNews