THE ILLEGAL STRIKE OF CERTAIN KWAZULU/NATAL OFFICIALS

Issued by: Department of Justice

Members of the "Ex KwaZulu Justice Department Employees" have embarked on illegal strike action since 2 September 1996 in the KwaZulu/Natal area as a result of certain perceived grievances relating to, inter alia, back pay, promotion and the removal of Mr D S V Ntshangase, the Departmental Regional Representative at Ulundi.

I wish to point out that this strike is not only illegal but also unnecessary. The Public and especially people in detention are suffering as a result of this illegal action by these employees. I also wish to point out that in terms of the Labour Relations Legislation, the principle of "no work, no pay" is applicable to an illegal strike.

Proper channels and fora have been created in KwaZulu/Natal to address problems of employees. Examples of such mechanisms are:

• A Justice Committee, was established quite some time ago, comprising of affected personnel as well as a representative from the Departmental Head Office, in order to look into and address specific problems such as these now raised in general terms by the employees in question. As a result of this Committee's work a number of issues have already been addressed.
• Apart from this Committee, I have this week also established a Special Committee, comprising senior officials from Head Office as well as one of my special advisers (Mr E Daniels) to attend to the grievances of the employees. This Committee met with the employees on 3 September 1996 in Umlazi. I wish to point out that that meeting was already set up last week to deal with this matter, with the concurrence of the employees in question, and their embarking on the illegal strike this week is regarded as not in good faith at all.

At the said meeting on 3 September 1996, the delegates of the employees in question were afforded the opportunity to submit particulars of their allegations and claims. They, however, failed to submit information relating to specific incidents in order to have them investigated.

• In addition, channels of communication between these employees and not only the Departmental Head Office in Pretoria, but also to my own Office have always existed and remain open to address any problem.

In view of the above I now make a serious call on all employees to:

• return to work and stop their illegal strike which is not in the interest of the public or the administration of justice: and
• to make use of the legal channels available to them

ISSUED BY THE CHIEF LIAISON OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PRETORIA 5 SEPTEMBER 1996

ENQ: ADV P A DU RAND CELL: 0826518527