Workers unhappy about termination

BARBERTON – As the political battle for control of the Umjindi Municipality heats up, allegations of using state resources to win voters have emerged.

More than 60 part-time employees of the expanded public works programme (EPWP) alleged their contracts were terminated by council because they did not participate in campaigning for the ANC for next year’s election.

It was alleged that the posts would now be filled by ANC volunteers, who had been seen in the area conducting door-to-door campaigns for the party.
What is infuriating the former workers even more is that they were not given notices in time that their contracts were being terminated. They claimed they were handed theirs last Thursday (September 26), informing them that Friday September 27 would be their last day of employment.

One of these notices, which is in Barberton Times’ possession, bearing the signature of the municipal manager, Pat Msibi, reads, “You are informed that your fixed-term contract of employment with Umjindi Municipality will be terminated with effect from September 30 as per the agreement of employment signed by and between yourself and Umjindi Municipality”.

However, they claim that no such contract was signed. “When we started work in March, we were told that our contracts would be renewed on a monthly basis. We never signed a fixed contract. Now we are puzzled when they say we signed an agreement,” said one of the workers.

They further alleged that the ANC was forcing some of them – even though they were not card-carrying members of the party, to work on EPWP projects in the township of Emjindini and other parts of town, by wearing ANC T-shirts and labouring on a road project.

They mentioned there were also some discrepancies regarding their payment. “Our March payslips indicated that we earned R3 600 but when we went to the bank, the balance was only R1 600. It appears that wherever they submitted our payslips, they told them that they were paying us R3 600.”
Of late, the EPWP has been causing disturbances in the area.
Councillors are allegedly getting involved in their wards by employing people whom they favour.

Now with the 2014 elections getting closer, the ANC is accused of using the programme to win voters.

“The red berets of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters have arrived in Umjindi. Many of us have already declared that we are supporting them. Some of us believe that our contracts have been terminated because we never wore the ANC T-shirts that had been given to us,” said another worker.

Themba Dlamini said it was bad timing for the council to terminate their contracts. “We are nearing the December holidays and some of us are breadwinners.
“No one will employ us this time of the year. It would have been better if they at least terminated them in December so that we could start job hunting in January,” said Dlamini. On Monday afternoon, the workers were at the council offices meeting with management.

At the time of going to print, Umjindi Municipality was not available for comment.