‘Ghost employees’ protest outside metro headquarters
“There are no ghost employees. We are real.”
So-called “ghost employees” alleged to be employed fraudulently by the Tshwane metro protested in the Pretoria CBD this morning.
These employees, represented by the Tshwane Labour Forum, are said to represent four core departments of the metro.
These are the electricity department, city parks, waste management and the sewerage department.
About a hundred or so employees gathered outside Tshwane House hoping to “prove” their existence to the metro.
The protest came after the Tshwane metro embarked on an audit and verification process to weed out “ghost” employees, according to head administrator Mpho Nawa.
In August, Nawa said its group audit and risk department had flagged some employees as suspected of being in the employ of the metro through fraudulent means.
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It also embarked on an audit and verification process of all the employees in a bid to ascertain the exact number of legitimate employees.
Nawa said the metro informed its employees and union representatives of its intention to embark on the employee verification process.
The process ran from 14-19 August.
Tshwane labour forum chairperson Austin Mailula said that their forum has been trying to supply the metro with proof of their existence without any luck.
“This is an urgent matter which is why we are marching.”
Mailula said his forum was anticipating more than 600 marchers.
“We had been in talks with metro officials for over three or more weeks to sort out the mess; however, we have just been spun around.”
He said the insourcing issue was not new to the metro.
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“Since 2011, we have been fighting about this issue with them. The only proper assistance we’ve had was through the recent dissolved Tshwane council MMC Richard Moheta.”
Mailula said temporary contractors were on several occasions alleged to be “ghost” employees.
“Now we want to engage the metro to absorb these members, who are not ghost employees but as permanent contractors.
“We just want our members to be insourced. That is all,” he said.
He said they have been waiting on the metro since July when its budget was approved to get back to them.
He said employees had also won a case at the Bargaining Council to have the metro absorb them as permanent employees.
Mailula claimed that the metro had previously agreed with the Tshwane Labour Forum to sign contracts as temporary employees, while officials consult further on permanent employment for them.
“We were tricked into signing those contracts and now our contracts are ending in October. We expect different answers from the metro this time around.
“We need Nawa to address this matter directly as agreed before.”
According to Tshwane Labour Forum spokesperson Vincent Mpane, 4 900 members who were temporary contractors for the metro are supposed to be insourced by the Tshwane metro.
“There are no ghost employees. We are real.”
At the time of going to print, Tshwane Labour Forum members have been invited to meet with Tshwane House officials.
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