GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Municipal strike: Following the recent pension fund strike action at the Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality, workers returned to work on Thursday 4 March.
According to Amos Mcinga, spokesperson of the Service Delivery Movement, the striking workers returned to work after receiving letters of intention to suspend them should they not return to work.
Mcinga said when union leaders confronted Municipal Manager Dr Edward Rankwana, he claimed to be unaware of the letters and said it was served without his instruction.
Meanwhile, the pension fund dilemma remain unresolved as the more than R25-million owed to the workers' pension fund by the municipality, remains unpaid. The pension fund contributions were deducted from employees' salaries but never paid to the pension funds.
According to Mcinga, the unions, Samwu and Imatu reached an agreement with Rankwana on 24 February that R10-million would be paid over to the pension fund before the end of that week.
Mcinga says this never happened, as an overdraft application that the MM and the Chief Financial Officer attempted to secure, was rejected. According to Imatu representative, Ivan Jaftha, a meeting between the trade unions and the MM was scheduled for Tuesday 9 March.
Feedback about the meeting is awaited. The municipality would only say that matters relating to contractual agreements with employees are receiving the necessary administrative attention.
Ghost workers - scary story or fact?
The Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality says there are no so-called ghost workers in its service.
This follows a request by the Service Delivery Movement for a physical verification of municipal employees on the payroll. The request was made by the Service Delivery Movement after they could find no evidence that a certain traffic officer is actually working in the Community Services Department.
They say the other officials in the department also do not know the officer. According to Vuyisa Jantjies, Interim Chairperson of the Service Delivery Movement, they have been shown a payslip proving that the officer received a salary for February. Jantjies says the payslip indicates that the officer was employed by the municipality on 1 December 2020.
The movement requested the municipality to confirm the officer's employment, whether he reports for duty, and, if so, when and at which station and who he reports to. They also asked for assurance that all municipal employees are actual warm bodies who report for duty.
In addition, the movement suggested that the physical verification of municipal employees should be done by an independent multi-stakeholder ad hoc committee and not by Council.
According to the municipality, detail providing proof of the said employee was provided to the Service Delivery Movement.
The movement denies having received any proof or information refuting their suspicions from the local authority.
The municipality further told the Advertiser: "There are no ghost employees within the Municipality, and anyone with information contradictory, can provide the Municipal Manager with such.'
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