Municipalities are not ANC Factional Employment Agencies

07 August 2017

Municipalities are not ANC Factional Employment Agencies

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has learnt with utter disgust that despite the high level of unemployment and poverty in the country coupled with the high vacancy rates in municipalities, some have taken it upon themselves to make municipalities their factional recruitment agencies, this while there are people who go to bed hungry not knowing where their next meal will come from.

According to media reports, following the ANC’s Provincial Executive Council (PEC) meeting, a letter was allegedly wrote by the Ehlazeni Regional Secretary, Phazamisa Mathe, instructing the municipal chief whip to place a moratorium on the filling of vacancies in the municipality “until further notice”. Such moratorium was to be placed on all vacancies including general workers, clerks, administrators, directors, managers and section 56 managers.

The alleged instruction is not only a smack in the face of the many South Africans who are qualified but unable to find work because of the reluctance of municipalities across the country to fill vacancies, it also has the unintended consequence of hampering service delivery for the citizens of Mpumalanga who would not be getting the services they need because people have not been hired while also greatly affecting workers who would be overworked.

Just a few months ago we expressed shock that the country’s municipalities had over 41 000 vacancies. We are now more convinced than ever that these alarmingly high vacancies are not as a result of the lack of skilled individuals in municipalities but rather that jobs are factionally reserved for certain individuals as payment for pushing political agendas.

We cannot keep quiet while municipalities are gradually turned into factional employment agencies for some, this while so many people are unemployed and service delivery is compromised particularly as a result of the alarmingly high vacancy rates in municipalities.

There is no political party that has jurisdiction over any municipality, these allegations are a confirmation of what we have been saying that political parties have been interfering in the administration of municipalities.

We therefore urge all political parties to diciest from interfering in the day to day running of municipalities as there are constitutional institutions charged with the running of municipalities. We further reiterate our call for the immediate filling of vacancies across all municipalities in the interest of service delivery for South Africans including the prospects of people being employed on a full time basis with job security.

Issued by SAMWU Mpumalanga Province
Saul Semelane
Provincial Secretary
072 896 9474

or

Papikie Mohale
National Media Officer
073 710 0356