BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
RUSTENBURG local municipality denied allegations that it will retrench some of its employees. Municipal spokesperson, Thapelo Matebesi said no employees will be retrenched.
“There is no retrenchment of employees. However we have 57 employees who have been on month-to-month contracts. They have been notified that their contracts will not be extended any further as a cost-containment measure.
“The municipality has absorbed 200 of them so far. Other than that, the municipality cannot just unilaterally implement the retrenchment process. We cannot do that first without consulting with all relevant stakeholders,” Matebesi said.
He said retrenching employees was a lengthy process that will need a council resolution first. Matebesi said the allegations came about after Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) in Rustenburg highlighted that the municipality was planning to retrench at least 182 workers.
“The municipal council took a resolution at its meeting on March 29. We will embark on the audit and verification of personnel. We will be paying staff salaries through cheques as a once-off during the date to be determined soon. We will consult with all stakeholders with the objective to eliminate the possibility of ghost employees.
“So there is no contravention of any employee contract. It is an implementation of council resolution with the objective to enhance clean governance. As a strategic objective, we have set ourselves in terms of the national government policy of clean governance.” he said.
Provincial secretary for COSATU, Job Dliso said: “We will engage with our alliance, South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) before we could fully commend on the matter.
North West provincial government once launched an investigation after allegations that there were ghost employees.However the results of an investigation established that the non-permanent employees were suspected as ghost employees on the system.
North West provincial government director-general, Dr Keneilwe Sebego said in a statement last that a total number of 37 515 employees were appointed on Salary Level 0 (zero) which is used to capture non-permanent employees on the PERSAL system.
“These are employees that are appointed without occupying a post on the organisational structure. And their appointments are classified as either Periodic Remuneration or Abnormal Appointments,” Sebego said.
She further added that people employed in these legislated categories are mainly for programmes such as EPWP, Internships, Learnerships, Student Nurses and Examination Markers.
-TDN
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