DESPITE recent calls by Ray Nkonyeni Municipality staff for two heads of department to be dismissed, council is having none of it.
At a press briefing on Tuesday this week, mayor Cynthia Mqwebu told reporters that council will not be expelling corporate services head, Nelly Thabatha and technical services head Sabatha Dlamini as demanded by South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) members during recent strike action.
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Council is believed to have dismissed claims by staff that Ms Thabatha was a ‘dictator’ who did not listen to her staff, saying that she was ‘a valuable asset to the municipality’.
“HODs or senior managers, like all other staff, are employed in terms of legislation which protects them from unfair dismissal. The reasons given by Samwu do not warrant the dismissal of these HODs,” the mayor added.
Council has instructed Samwu to present to the municipal manager any further information that the two may be in breach of their contracts in order to support their demand.
“Both HODs are carrying out their responsibilities according to their employment contracts and performance agreements, therefore council dismissed the call for them to be axed.”
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The mayor did, however, admit that adequate protective gear and working equipment had not been provided to workers, but added that plans were in place to correct this oversight.
She went on to say that, while council was prepared to address some complaints, including ablution facilities, other issues such as the electronic time management system were not open for negotiation.
“This is the municipality’s policy and will not be changed just because workers are unhappy with it,” she said.
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