Lawfulness of protection for MMCs questioned.
The City of Tshwane will proceed with the implementation of a R35 000 per month allowance for its VIP protectors in lieu of overtime payments, despite a lack of support for this from municipal unions.
This news comes just days after a special council meeting at which councillors approved their own salary increases and slipped in a provision to ensure that the large group of politicians – and a few officials – who currently enjoy this protection can continue doing so without disruption.
By law, such protection is limited to the mayor, deputy mayor, chief whip and speaker. Other councillors only qualify if a risk assessment by the South African Police Service (SAPS) indicates that they are in danger.
In Tshwane, however, all nine other members of the mayoral committee (MMCs), as well as the municipal manager and the head of the metropolitan police, also receive this protection.
At first glance, it does not appear that the necessary risk assessments have been carried out. Moneyweb’s enquiries in this regard have gone answered, and the municipal union Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union’s (Imatu’s) request for a copy of these risk reports was also ignored.
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Moneyweb recently reported that the council unanimously approved a monthly allowance of R35 000 for the 63 VIP protectors, which will replace overtime pay. This confirmed an earlier decision by the mayoral committee and was supposedly necessary due to criticism from the Auditor-General (AG) regarding excessive spending on overtime.
The council heard that the VIP protectors, who are members of the metro police, work an average of 103 hours of overtime per month, which is completely unlawful and, according to an expert, amounts almost to slave labour.
With this allowance, the VIP protectors’ total remuneration will exceed R1 million each.
The council’s approval of the allowance was still subject to union agreement.
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At the subsequent meeting of the local labour forum, where unions and the employer are represented, the unions pointed out that the council had yet to provide them with the necessary documents they had requested to be able to make an informed decision.
The meeting was then postponed to 23 September.
On 16 September, municipal manager Johann Mettler informed the union Imatu in writing that the council would proceed unilaterally with implementing the decision.
“The city is convinced that it has consulted the unions thoroughly and meaningfully, and it can no longer wait to implement the allowance. You are accordingly informed that the city has decided to implement the allowance as resolved by the mayoral committee,” Mettler’s letter stated.
Three days later, Imatu responded, saying the fixed allowance “is not the correct approach to address the excessive overtime in this division of the metro police.”
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Union hits back
The union disputes the claim that the consultations during the three forum meetings on the matter were meaningful, since the metro council consistently failed to provide the documents the unions had requested. They had asked for:
- The Auditor-General’s findings on excessive overtime payments;
- The report of a mini-audit conducted by the metro council; and
- The risk assessments on which the extension of protection to all MMCs was based.
Imatu points out that the total cost of the allowance will amount to R26 million. This is significantly more than the R17 million the council currently spends on overtime payments.
“Furthermore, it will be paid from a different budget line, but will cost almost double the amount the AG flagged as excessive, and will likely result in another negative finding,” Imatu told Mettler.
“The (overtime) hours will remain unchanged, if not increase, and the officers will remain vulnerable under occupational health and safety legislation and prone to mistakes. Such mistakes cannot be afforded, since the unit must provide safety and protection and is responsible for the safety of politicians and senior officials, including yourself.”
Imatu further questions how the metro council can justify this expenditure on a small group of officials while requesting exemption from increases (for 2021) for the entire workforce of about 18,000, because of an unfunded budget.
Furthermore, overtime for essential services directly linked to service delivery is managed, but there is no control over this unit’s overtime, says Imatu.
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The union questions whether the necessary risk assessments were ever carried out. Imatu further threatens to report the metro council to the Department of Labour over the long hours worked by the VIP protectors, and says it reserves the right to refer compliance with the current collective labour agreement to “the appropriate forum.”
During the special council meeting on 12 September, the council approved a 5% salary increase and cellphone allowances of R3 600 per month for all councillors. This is backdated to 1 July 2024 and still needs to be ratified at provincial level.
It comes after several years without any increases.
These increases are determined nationally and depend on the size of the municipality. After the increases, Tshwane councillors’ earnings will look as follows:
The rules for personal protection were clearly explained in reports to the council. Nevertheless, it was recommended that, “taking into account the concerns about councillors’ safety in general, and the Tshwane metro council in particular,” the current VIP protection arrangements remain unchanged, “pending the finalisation of the Policy on the Safety, Protection and Welfare of Councillors and the risk assessments.”
Any changes will be made based on the risk assessments, the report states.
It was approved by a majority in the council.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
