Job axe falls under new Joburg ANC administration

The City of Joburg’s new administration has fired nearly 400 workers, including 150 officials, since taking over in December.

After firing over 200 firefighters last month, the city also laid off officials working under the former DA-run mayoral committee – a move the opposition party said was a concern for residents.

Former public safety MMC Michael Sun said he did not disagree with the firing of the firefighters who embarked on industrial action last year. But he lamented the apparent lack of an urgent plan to replace these workers with qualified candidates.

The former administration was involved in a drawn-out court battle with union Demawusa over the workers, who were accused of embarking on an illegal strike.

Their dismissal came after the union tried to legally challenge their suspension.

“We haven’t heard from the new administration on what plan they have to make sure the gap of over 200 qualified professionals who served in very critical positions will be filled.

“Training a firefighter typically takes at least 13 months and another two years for higher qualifications. If they recruit someone today we may only see the results of that over a year later.”

Following the dismissals, 150 city officials were served with termination letters following former mayor Herman Mashaba’s resignation.

DA Joburg caucus leader Funzela Ngobeni penned letters apologising to the fired officials for the “instability” which followed Mashaba’s resignation.

“It was never the intention of the party to place the city and your jobs at risk. We went to great lengths to prevent these events from unfolding. We could not however convince the former mayor to stay.

“Yet we are gravely disappointed by the approach and attitude that the ANC administration has adopted, which has occasioned such mass scale job losses.”

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