The City of Cape Town has instituted disciplinary action against no less than 326 of its staff members during the current financial year.
This equates to 1% out of the City’s staff complement of 30,373 permanent employees.
The staff members were implicated and charged with various acts of misconduct, among which negligence, insubordination, misuse of council property, and being absent from work without permission.
Only three members are currently on suspension and are receiving their full pay.
“It is confirmed that the suspensions are in compliance with the South African Local Bargaining Council’s disciplinary procedure collective agreement stipulating that precautionary suspensions are with full pay until conclusion of the disciplinary matter,” said the City’s spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo.
However, municipal managers and senior employees who directly report to the municipal manager are excluded from the agreement.
The ANC’s leader of the opposition in the City Council, Banele Majingo, said that given the size of the City of Cape Town and its budget, the number of employees undergoing a disciplinary process sounded large but in reality, was not.
“Over a period of time, we think this is a fair number,” said Majingo.
“We also cannot allow harassment of junior employees who often fall victim majority of time based on their skin colour whilst accounting persons are not touched. If the need arises for a DC process, it must be fair,” he said.
“However, it is important for us to strengthen financial management and implement effective consequence management. We view the disciplinary process as a measure to prevent, deter, educate and continue with systemic improvements.”
Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien is one of the 326 staffers who is facing a disciplinary process.
He is accused of tampering with an electricity meter at his property.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced on September 28 that Badroodien requested to step down from his position pending the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.
Another City of Cape Town DA ward councillor, Antonio van der Rheede, is also in hot water after he was arrested after he allegedly made sexual advances towards a woman under the pretence of promising her job.
He has been in office since 2010 and is also a sub-council chairperson.
In November, trade unions rapped the City over the knuckles following charges brought against an estimated 29 senior managers, including directors, related to supply management processes and tenders, Weekend Argus reported.
The City’s move sparked concerns and calls on the municipal manager, Lungelo Mbandazayo, to suspend the process until the matter was discussed with the unions.
The group was reportedly slapped with charges over the period of a few months last year, which led some of them to retire and others to resign.
The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) described the City’s action as an “unprecedented attack”, which could adversely affect service delivery.
According to the union, in the human settlements directorate alone, two of the four directors were facing disciplinary charges.
“In our final analysis, most of the systemic issues are connected to Supply Chain Management (SCM) system as tenders are involved,” said the union.
“But there is no sign of any accountability being apportioned to the senior leadership of SCM.”
Weekend Argus.