Africa-Press – South-Africa. A total of 130 employees had their world turned upside down amid a contract conversion saga that saw the City of Johannesburg send letters informing them of the reversal of their permanent employment status.
News24 reported that Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse had insisted that the ANC had hijacked the City’s finances when it illegally converted fixed-term contracts of political appointees to permanent ones.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, Phalatse said:
City of Joburg contract saga: Union’ threats will not deter us’, says Mayor Phalatse
Many of the affected employees do not know how they will sustain themselves and their families following the news.
News24 spoke to two people affected who stated that they had joined the City from the private sector and had no affiliation with any political party in the City.
The one employee, who spoke to News24 on condition of anonymity, said they were hurt to hear that they were being referred to as “cadre deployment”, as they had never carried any political membership or shown any political affiliation.
“I am so upset because we were more than 30 people when I interviewed. I was so proud of myself that I got a job without knowing anyone. I didn’t even have a friend in the City.
The tearful employee said:
Another employee, who also joined the City on a fixed-term contract in 2014 from the private sector, said they were shocked to see Phalatse’s statements on the issue.
“They have their preferences. They want their own people. I do not have any political party membership.
“We are being thrown under the bus, and you can see the posts being advertised [now] have certain requirements concerning the employment equity,” they said.
Both employees, who have qualifications at a post-graduate level, explained that there was a thin line between party and state in the City every time a new administration took office.
‘Insulting and quite irritating’
Another employee, who is one of the affected 130 staff, told News24 that the mayor’s claims that they were political appointments were “insulting and quite irritating”.
“I find the mayor’s claim to be quite bizarre. I went through a rigorous interview process, and I was later appointed. I was not coming from any political office.
“The suggestion that we are a cohort from Luthuli House is truly insulting. We are professionals in our own right. That alone is quite annoying and irritating,” the honours graduate told News24.
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They maintained that they were still permanent employees of the City, and that the matter was going through a legal process.
“We are going to take action. There is no way politicians are going to politick with our lives,” an affected employee said.
On Wednesday, the South African Municipal Workers Union’s (Samwu) Thobani Nkosi told News24 that the union would explore other avenues, and that their legal team was working on a challenge.
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