‘Nobody is being fired’ - City of Joburg stands its ground in fixed-term contract spat
The City of Johannesburg has issued a directive reversing the permanent employment of 130 staff.
Acting city manager Mesuli Mlandu signed off on the directive on Wednesday afternoon after the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) failed to submit a notice of legal action or made any representation to challenge the decision by the city.
The notices of regularisation will see the contracts of 130 employees attached to political offices converted back to fixed term.
This after the conversion of the contracts to permanent employment was found to have been irregular and illegal.
"No one is being terminated, no one is dismissed, no one is being fired. By regularisation we mean that returning the fixed-term contracts to their original form of fixed-term,” Mlandu said.
“All 130 will be out of a job at the end of April when the contracts come to an end, as per the original agreement.”
The process has seen the city fall out of favour with Samwu.
But mayoral spokesperson Mabine Seabe believes the union's threats and frustrations have been largely misplaced.
"Samwu is disingenuous. We were gracious in granting them an extension to consult with their members, but they have instead chosen to go to the media to make threats to make the City of Johannesburg ungovernable and to stop the mayor [Mpho Phalatse] in council ad wherever she may have public engagements.
"These are unreasonable terms, and it is unacceptable for the union to make such threats when in fact we are acting on a legal decision," Mabine adds.
He adds the latest developments will allow the city to advertise for those positions.
The current employees whose contracts will end next month will also have the opportunity to reapply.
Listen to Mabine below:
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