Mismanagement by department heads in the Mbombela Local Municipality (Mbombela/Nelspruit, Barberton, Hazyview, Kaapsehoop, Skukuza, White River) has resulted in the Municipality paying approximately R14 million in compensation for overtime every month.
The FF Plus strongly condemns the incompetence of the heads of the refuse disposal, parks and cemetery departments, who are failing to properly manage overtime payments.
Some of the workers claimed more hours overtime per day than is allowed by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Workers may not work more than three hours overtime per day. Workers reportedly work only three to four hours per weekday and refuse to do any more work unless it is over weekends.
Supervisors are threatened with violence when they try to enforce the prescribed working hours.
The general municipal manager, Mr Luckie Sihlangu, has not taken any action against the offenders thus far.
The FF Plus warned in the past that the municipal overtime policy must be strictly adhered to. Department heads who fail to perform their duty of exercising proper control must be charged and if found guilty, must be dismissed at once.
The Municipality already finds itself in a dire financial situation with power and water outages occurring almost daily.
It is as a result of outdated infrastructure, poor maintenance and upgrades. Sewage spills are also a regular occurrence.
Private companies, like the Power of 8 000 in White River, have taken it on themselves to cut the grass and clean up the town’s parks.
The FF Plus is strongly opposed to the irregular spending of tax money and will put pressure on the Municipality to adhere to its prescribed overtime budget.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Freddy Robertson on FF Plus
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