A group of municipal employees have been labelled lazy by a watchful resident.
Through means of email, an anonymous resident reported general workers ‘loitering’ in the Paterson Street park at the end of March.
For days on end, she explained, they sat around ‘doing nothing’.
The resident continued to state the same thing had occurred in February too, and reports to the municipality had fallen on seemingly deaf ears.
“I even sent photos to the head of the Department.”
Asked to give further detail on what she had noticed, the resident said the workers normally sat in the park from Tuesday to Thursday each week, doing nothing.
Working close to the park, the resident said it was apparent the staff were simply relaxing.
“There are normally two women and three men. The women are always the same ones, but I’m not sure about the men.”
Expressing her concern at wastage of taxpayers’ money thanks to no supervision, the resident lamented a lack of interest in the matter.
Her concerns were provided to the municipality for urgent response.
Khaya Ngwane, Manager of Community Services: Parks and Recreation said the department was unable to provide a response to the matter, unless the complainant came forward with details of the incidents she witnessed.
“This will assist us in investigating whether or not we had our staff working in that area.”
The Newcastle Advertiser approached the staff in person, to ascertain details of their deployment to the park and why they were not working.
One employee stated the work had already been completed at the time.
“We are waiting for the supervisor to fetch us, so we can remove these refuse bags.”
However, there was no explanation for stacks of discarded wood and other rubbish which still littered the park at the time.
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