GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The Public Servants Association (PSA) has issued a strong condemnation after, for the second consecutive month, more than 550 employees of the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA) did not receive their salaries on time.

A long wait

This has left workers struggling to afford transportation to their jobs, facing rejected debit orders, and incurring unnecessary bank charges, exacerbating their financial distress.

After not being paid on time in February, EXPTA workers discovered on 25 March that their salaries had not been deposited. Despite numerous phone calls and emails from the PSA to the ECPTA, assurances that payments would be made on 26 March between 09:00 and 12:00 went unfulfilled.

 As of 27 March, only a portion of the affected employees had received their salaries, while others continued to wait for their rightful earnings.

'False promises'

The PSA has called for immediate action from the ECPTA board, claiming that the union was misled by false promises from the agency's CEO.

The PSA considers this non-compliance a serious breach that has significantly strained the working relationship between the union and the ECPTA, and has threatened to pursue legal action if the issue is not resolved promptly and satisfactorily. 

The union also expressed the hope that the ECPTA Board's intervention would prevent such unacceptable circumstances from recurring in the future.

Phone calls to the ECPTA head offices in East London went unanswered. Comment from them will be published when it becomes available.

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