The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has denied media reports suggesting that its KZN structures are engaged in discussions of “dumping” the ANC in favour of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK Party).
The Sunday World newspaper reported that Nehawu’s Umlazi district “has become the launchpad for a lobby by public servants belonging to trade union…to dump the ANC in favour of former President Jacob Zuma’s MK Party.”
The newspaper claimed that Nehawu structures in the area were set to meet over the weekend to finalise a petition on the proposal and present it to the union’s upcoming ordinary meeting on September 12.
Nehawu stated that the people who are mentioned in the Sunday World article are not known to the union, demanding that Sunday World retract the article within 24 hours.
“In the past few days the union has convened the Branch Executive Committees [BECs] and Branch General Meetings [BGMs] in all of our 230 branches across the province and there was no such discussions that arose from those meetings.
“After these meetings, we proceeded to the Regional Executive Committee [REC] meetings in all our four regions and again no discussions on MKP took place. Our primary focus was the 2025/6 public service wage negotiations,” the union said.
Meanwhile, ANC Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula and President of NEHAWU, Mike Shingange on Monday addressed the media in a joint sitting, on the challenges that have polarized relations between the ANC and the union in KwaZulu-Natal.
The ANC resolved that the KwaZulu Natal provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo, must issue an apology for the remarks he recently made about Nehawu and its members.
This decision comes after NEHAWU sued the ANC and KZN Provincial Secretary Bheki Mtolo for R2 million for defamation.
The lawsuit was filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court and is based on statements made by Mtolo when he accused the union of causing poor service delivery in various government departments including Home Affairs and SASSA.
Nehawu described the allegations as defamatory, arguing that the claims have tarnished its reputation and undermined its efforts to improve the working conditions and rights of its members across the country.
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