VANDERBIJLPARK – In the sustained spirit of dealing with employee ill-discipline, four Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) employees have been suspended after they were caught conspiring with some of the funeral undertakers to conduct illegal burials at Vanderbijlpark and Rus-Ter-Vaal cemeteries.

Beyond an alliance with funeral undertakers, investigations further revealed that this operation was an all-out illegal syndicate that incorporated an internet café

responsible for forging bank statements and proofs of payments. Regrettably, this morally depraved operation lasted for over 10 years.

In a separate incident in the Municipal Court Department, one employee was also suspended for taking money from motorists in exchange for decreasing traffic fine amounts.

With the disciplinary action against the five employees in its beginning stages,

Municipal Manager April Ntuli applauded the Corporate Services Department for doing a stellar job in restoring discipline in the municipality.

“The municipality will no longer forgive ill-discipline, especially when such behaviours hit hard on our reputation as an institution and even harder on the communities we are supposed to serve. Burials are truly special to all of us, for trusted employees to take advantage of them to this extent is an eyesore that warrants a zero-tolerance approach to terminate,” said Ntuli.

As resolved by both Exco and Council that a change is necessary to advance clean governance and a spirit of “Business Unusual”.

We persevere in the cleaning and turning around of the Emfuleni Local municipality to ensure that it becomes a public institution of choice for all its communities.

Ntuli urges members of the public to report ELM officials who are breaking the law to the municipality.