Pinetown Welfare Society retrenches staff without pay

THE dire financial constraints at the Pinetown Highway Child and Family Welfare Society has led to the retrenchment of staff and has brought shocking revelations to light.

During the retrenchment period, staff discovered their provident funds for December were not paid even though the money was deducted from their salaries.

A social worker, who wished to remain anonymous, wrote to the Highway Mail and highlighted the plight they are facing as workers and also accused the society of stealing from them.

According to the social worker, a staff meeting was held in July last year by acting director, Sibongile Manyathi, to inform workers that a second retrenchment will take place and four social workers will be retrenched.

The social worker said the affected staff were given letters on 20 January this year, inviting them to a meeting.

“On 22 January, four social workers were told they are being retrenched and 31 January 2020 will be their last day. They were given only one week to wrap up their workload and prepare for their retrenchment.”

The social worker said the retrenched staff were also told there was no money to pay their retrenchment packages and they would have to be paid in three month installments beginning at the end of March as the society was still going to fund-raise to pay the retrenchment packages.

ALSO READ: Pinetown welfare desperate for funding

“The retrenched workers unenthusiastically accepted this payment plan. Knowing they would have no income for February, they began to file claims for their provident fund and were met with the shock of their lives when they found out the Pinetown Child Welfare had not paid their money over to provident fund for December although the money had been deducted from every employee’s salary.

“This meant that no one can claim from Fair Sure until the monies were paid in. On hearing this news, the workers gathered and stormed into the director’s office to demand answers. The director called in her PA who confirmed that the monies were deducted and used to pay the electricity and petrol bill,” said the social worker.

The social worker added that employees have evidence that for January, the provident fund was again deducted from the workers’ salaries and again not paid to Fair Sure. “Furthermore, we found out the UIF and PAYE had not been paid but deducted from our salaries.

“The UIF claims for the retrenched workers have been declined by the Department of Labour and they are still unable to claim from provident fund as January monies which were due by 7 February are still not paid, despite being deducted from workers’ salaries.

 

What is going on?

The Highway Mail met with the society’s board to get answers regarding these accusations.

“The society’s financial status is very bad because of mainly two reasons: the tough economical times the whole country is faced with and because the department that subsidises us dropped the amount,” said president of Pinetown and Highway Child and Family Welfare Society, Professor Siphiwe Nzimande.

Last year, an article was published about the sad state affairs at the welfare. The acting director, Sibongile Manyathi, was pleading for funds and informing the public that they needed about R112 000 each month to fill the gap after the subsidy was cut by the Department of Social Development.

Responding to the accusations, Nzimande said because of the financial constraint that they are facing, the money that was supposed to be paid to Fair Sure was used, unknowingly.

ALSO READ: Desperate situation as Pinetown welfare runs out of food 

He said when the society receives a sum of money, they prioritise the needs for that month. “There are no underhand dealings, the money was used so that the society could continue functioning and was going to be paid back wherever there was a gap.

“It was only discovered during these retrenchments that the money was not paid to Fair Sure and we apologise for that. The society watches over 4 000 children who all have different needs. There is so much good that happens here, it is so unfortunate that social workers had to be retrenched and we truly sympathise with them but our current financial situation forced us to let them go,” he said.

The acting director, Manyathi, added that the UIF money has been paid to Fair Sure as they have received some of the fund-raising money they were waiting for.

“The situation is bad and we are again appealing to anyone who can assist us,” she said.

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