MBOMBELA – Most municipal libraries are closed. According to two people at different libraries, only the Mbombela and White River ones have been open since the beginning of April.
Spokesman for Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) Mr Joseph Ngala says the libraries are expected to remain closed until new staff has been appointed.
As of April 1, MLM appointed permanent workers in positions previously held by temporary employees. This was to comply with an amendment in the Labour Relations Act according to which employers may not appoint workers on a temporary basis unabated, as it led to the exploitation of labour, explained Ngala.
“In essence the new amendment requires of employers to do away with temporary employments in favour of permanent employment with full benefits.”
But DA councillor Ms Trudie Grové-Morgan says the closure is a result of new appointees being told that there were problems with their appointments, and that they had to wait for an investigation to be finalised before commencing work.
This came after executive mayor, Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi’s recent report to council, after his investigation into the appointment of 24 specialised security officers in October, revealed loopholes in the process.
Other general workers are also unhappy with how the situation has changed since the beginning of last month.
Vacancies for general workers were advertised on March 4 and closed on March 10. Interviews were conducted on Easter Saturday.
Messrs Raymond Mkhonto, Wisani Sibiya, Bheki Shakwane and France Mashaba who had been working as temporary general workers in the water and sanitation department in Hazyview since November 2013, reapplied for their positions in March.
They said they underwent occupational health scans at the end of March, the first time in their employment. But when they arrived for work on April 1, they were told that they no longer had jobs. They insisted that this was the first they had heard of it.
An email from municipal manager, Mr Noko Seanego, informed managers and supervisors on March 31 that they were not to allow contract workers to work beyond the expiration of their approved contracts as they would not “be automatically absorbed into their departments”. One supervisor claimed he was informed of the non-renewal of contracts a few days prior.
But Ngala said, “It is utterly mischievous to suggest that the contract employees were not given notice of termination, as the instruction to notify all temporary employees of the eminent contract lapse was communicated timeously with all management teams.
“It must be noted further that the notice was simply a mere courtesy as the contract itself clearly stipulates the starting date of the contract and the end date of the said contract, which means that already, and without exception, all contract employees were aware of their contractual period.”
