MUNICIPAL COUNCIL CLAIMS TO BE ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE

MBABANE – The Mbabane Municipal Council alleges that it is now on the brink of a catastrophe and it is inevitable that the restructuring exercise be implemented if it is to be sustainable.

This is one of the submissions made by the council’s Industrial Relations Specialist, Coronation Nxumalo in the matter where it has been taken to court by the workers who are seeking an order that the exercise be stayed.
He further argued that the delays had been costly, both in terms of manpower costs as well as in terms of the need to implement a sustainable turnaround strategy.

“As a local government, the respondent (council) is dependent by and large on public funding. It is inequitable that the public funds are being spent on an organisation that is carrying a significantly high staff complement (which is by and large redundant), incurring huge operation costs, is unable to deliver effective services to the residents of Mbabane and is generally a financial drain,” contended Nxumalo.

He submitted that the present approach would ensure that all redundant employees would be paid packages above the statutory packages and as such, there was no irreparable harm that would be occasioned to the departing employees.
The council also argued that the restructuring exercise which had been delayed for a period of over five years was vital of its continued sustainability and it was occasioned with financial losses.
In his answering affidavit, Nxumalo stated that this exercise would not be delayed any further, given that the delays were occasioning serious financial losses.

“Given the fact that there had been a concession that the previous collective agreement on retrenchment packages was now a nullity, and in view of the fact that the parties had not reached an agreement on a new collective agreement, the respondent (council) would implement the restructuring exercise,” argued Nxumalo. He disclosed that the council would institute proceedings at the Industrial Court, seeking to have the dispute in relation to an appropriate retrenchment package determined by the court.

He argued that in the event the court found that the package was inadequate, the council made an undertaking to pay the difference between the package paid when implementing the restructuring and the package determined by the court.
According to Nxumalo, the proceedings instituted by the council were under case No: 201/2013 and were dated November 18, 2013. He alleged that those proceedings were pending before court.

“While the proceedings instituted by the respondent, the applicants (unions representing some of the workers) brought an application on November 25, 2015, seeking ostensibly the same item of relief as the present application. The court directed that both matters should come before court on January 25 for argument,” contended Nxumalo.

He informed the court that the present application (application to stay the implementation of the restructuring exercise) was launched on December 21, 2015 when the council had closed for Christmas vacation. He highlighted that it was served on the respondent’s attorney while he was in court on another matter on that date.

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