A last-minute agreement reached between the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) and the National Department of Water and Sanitation has helped the department to avert a possible attachment of its properties by the Sheriff of the Court.
NEHAWU, acting on behalf of its members, took an action to enforce a court order related to the unfair dismissal of 44 members in the Northern Cape.
The Department of Water and Sanitation was ordered to pay the dismissed employees but has failed to comply with the order.
The union’s spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi said that they entered into an agreement with the department on Friday and agreed to postpone the attachment of the department’s head office in Pretoria.
“We could not proceed today as envisaged due to technicalities on the side of the sheriff.
But what was agreed upon, the department agreed that it will settle before August 29, 2025, and we have signed the agreement, failure to adhere to that will result in the sheriff attaching the properties of the department,” said Nkolonzi.
NEHAWU said that it was prepared to attach properties of the department at its national offices in Pretoria.
“The sheriff would have attached anything he finds valuable to recoup the R4 million that is due to our members.
We are talking about 44 workers whose lives have been disrupted, some who have passed on so the sheriff will attach anything valuable to contribute to that R4 million that we are seeking as the union for our members to compensate them for the unfair dismissal by the department,” explained Nkolonzi.
Meanwhile, the department’s spokesperson Wisane Mavasa has confirmed that the department has delayed paying ex-workers owing to some technical breakdown.
“The court order was given to the department and there was a payment process that was supposed to have been implemented.
Due to the engagements between NEHAWU and the department on the manner in which this payment needed to be made, it delayed a bit to a point that the last meeting that the two parties met was sometime in May, where they settled in the fact that when they have to pay that amount together with the interest to each and every employee who is owed it will need to effected as lump sum now to each of them,” said Mavasa.
Mavasa said that finally the two parties reached an agreement in a meeting with the sheriff of the court.
“The Department met with the Sheriff together with NEHAWU to explain our position and agree on the payment plan that we are currently trying to push.
The agreement stipulates that the principal debt will be settled by the end of this month of August and the Interest is still being processed as well.
We are looking at making sure that it is settled by September 15, 2025, and this is what was agreed on by the two parties because the interests still need to be settled through a different process that needs to be undertaken separate from the actual amount that was owed,” concluded Mavasa.
