GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - DA Member of Parliament, Samantha Graham-Maré, has submitted an urgent request to the Dr Beyers Naude municipal manager to investigate the allegation of ghost workers in the municipality.
According to Graham-Maré she received photographs indicating that a certain traffic official was appointed as a contract worker in the Protection Services Department on 1 December 2020, but she has since been advised that there is no such person in the employ of the municipality.
The MEC for Cooperative and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape, Xolile Nqatha, has been alerted to the allegation, and the municipality has been requested to investigate and respond to the allegation within 14 days from the date of the request, 18 March.
The municipality has since responded to the Service Delivery Movement's request to confirm whether the person is in the employ of the municipality, and to confirm whether all municipal employees are actual people who report for duty.
According to the municipality, the man was appointed as examiner vehicle testing officer at the Graaff-Reinet Protection Service section on a 12-month contract basis on 1 December, and reports directly to the Director of Community Service, Gewnynne Hermanus.
The municipality also confirmed that all their employees are "warm bodies that are performing municipal functions as per duties assigned to them".
The municipality has not responded to the Advertiser's request for concrete proof that the person in question is, in fact, in its employ, and has been in the employ of the municipality for the month of February 2021 that he was paid for.
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