The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMB) this year dismissed Senior Work Study Practitioner, Gayle Grootboom, and Municipal Media Liaison Officer, (municipal spokesperson), Kupido Baron on trumped up charges of gross insubordination. They had served NMB for respectively 27 and 20 years of commendable service with spotless disciplinary records. Their dismissals were the culmination of ordeals spanning years of bullying, harassment, unfair labour practices and racial discrimination. With all internal processes now exhausted, the comrades have now appealed to the SA Local Government Bargaining Council which has jurisdiction over workers below senior management level.

The NMB’s conduct is an egregious example of the ANC’s abandonment the aims of the struggle against apartheid including worker rights and non-racial equality. Shockingly, in its persecution of these comrades, it has drawn from the cesspool of apartheid racism.

The MWP calls for their immediate reinstatement. We appeal to all trade unions, socialists and activists in SA and worldwide to support this demand and to write to the employer condemning their actions. Please send all letters to the officials at the email addresses provided below. 

Comrade Kupido’s victimisation:

• Comrade Kupido was suspended without charge to remove him from responsibility for management of the communications budget during Covid. His suspension was lifted without ever having been charged after the budget process was completed in his absence.
• He was subsequently excluded, along with other internal candidates, from applying for an advertised post, Communications Director, one level immediately above his.
• He was advised in writing that whilst he had the requisite qualifications and experience, as a Coloured, he did not meet Employment Equity Act requirements. The post was for Black people only. He had been registered Coloured by the apartheid regime.
• Lodged a grievance, along with others in the Media Office against the newly appointed Communications Director, Sithembiso Soyaya, over this unilateral change to their conditions of employment.
• The grievance was never heard. Instead, the newly appointed Communications Director responded to the grievance by initiating disciplinary action. This is prohibited by the Labour Relations Act’s Code of Good Practice (LRA Code).
• In further contravention of the LRA, no independent person was appointed to preside over the hearing. 
• The Presiding Officer signed off the guilty finding before comrade Kupido’s SA Municipal Workers Union representative had submitted a plea in mitigation. 

Comrade Gayle’s persecutio:

From October 2022 to November 2023

• After a prolonged period of victimisation including prevented from performing her duties, her doctor diagnosed her as suffering from depression. The doctor forwarded his medical report to management.
• Comrade Gayle submitted an application for transfer on medical grounds supported by her doctor’s written recommendation.
• In flagrant contravention of the transfer policy of her department, Corporate Services, management rejects her application. Corporate Services is the custodian of the transfer policy that specifically provides for transfer on medical grounds. Her supervisor, Mr Nameka, declared the doctor’s recommendation “null and void,” and demanded a psychiatrist’s report. No such provision exists in the transfer policy. Her psychiatrist’s report was nonetheless ignored. Her victimisation continued. 

• From November 2023 to June 2024
  • Comrade Gayle suffered a heart attack from the persecution.
  • Whilst on sick leave management unilaterally went through the motions of initiating her transfer request
  • Management conceded to the transfer, confirmed it to her union the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) but subsequently denied there had been a meeting.
  • Received a “Notice of Counselling” over attendance and sick leave, despite documented heart attack and specialist reports.
  • This was followed by notification of “Potential Disciplinary Action” for “insolence” for voicing frustration at management’s cat and mouse tactics.
• From July to November 2024
• Suffered relapse in health twice, in July and For both, her doctor diagnosed workplace-induced stress related and booked her off.
• During second relapse comrade Gayle lodged a grievance citing failures to apply transfer policy, victimisation, exclusion, threats of disciplinary action, inconsistent transfer practices and abuse of process. She is promised feedback by 22 November.
• After returning from sick leave, she was charged with insolence, gross insubordination and absence without leave. She is given a disciplinary hearing notice but no feedback on her grievance.
• From January to June 2025
• June 11, after several disciplinary hearings sittings, she is dismissed.

The NMB municipality’s attitude towards its own internal disciplinary processes and the Labour Relations Act’s Code of Good Practice (LRA Code) can only be described as complete contempt. NMB has violated these comrades basic labour rights including to a fair hearing. This blatantly contravenes its own internal disciplinary policy as well as the LRA Code. The NMB is acting in line with the bosses and government’s attacks on the LRA Code.

The NMB’s use of race quotas as a weapon of discrimination, victimisation and persecution, mimics apartheid racist practices. It constitutes the most disgraceful betrayal of the anti-racist principles of the struggle against apartheid that inspired solidarity worldwide. We are outraged that a government elected democratically by all, has resurrected the disregard for basic human rights and even the racist methods of the universally hated apartheid regime. This is a betrayal firstly and foremostly of the struggle of the oppressed working class majority in SA, but also the millions globally who acted in solidarity with them.

This would be bad enough on its own. But the NMB municipality management’s treatment of comrade Grootboom given her medical condition descends to apartheid-style cold blood callousness. The NMB is directly responsible for precipitating the onset of comrade Gayle’s mental and physical ill health – her depression and heart attack.

We stand in unwavering solidarity with Comrades Kupido Baron and Gayle Grootboom, whose dismissals have not only stripped them of their livelihoods but have deeply impacted their families and communities. These are not just workers—they are parents and breadwinners who now face the daily anguish of being unable to provide for those who depend on them. The emotional toll of this injustice reverberates far beyond the workplace, affecting the dignity and stability of entire households. We demand that the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recognises the human cost of these actions and correct this injustice with urgency.

The devastating impact of the NMB’s persecution, victimisation and racial profiling of comrades Kupido and Grootboom is not, however, limited to them personally. The LRA and EEA are violations to clear the way for nepotism and corruption. The official who dismissed comrade Kupido is facing charges of procurement corruption in the Commercial Crimes Court.  The NMB’s conduct sheds light on why it regarded as the weakest of the country’s large metros in the poorest province in the country in the world’s the most unequal society.

Reinstate comrades Kupido Baron and Gayle Grootboom now!

Reject racism! Defend Labour Laws! An injury to one is an injury to all!

• Head of Corporate Services – Nosipho Xhego: nxhego@mandelametro.gov.za , cspa@mandelametro.gov.za
• City Manager – Ted Pillay: cm@mandelametro.gov.za; tshabudien@mandelametro.gov.za
• Mayor – Babalwa Lobishe: mayor@mandelametro.gov.za; pamayor@mandelametro.gov.za; babalwa.lobishe@gmail.com
• Mbulelo Sogoni, Director General: Office of the Premier, PA,  Nomveliso Dudumisa, dudumisa@ecotp.gov.za
• Premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane, PA – Tandile Mtiki – tandile.mtiki@ecotp.gov.za