The New Age reports that the future of thousands of contract workers working for the Tshwane municipality with the threat of job losses is looming. It is also uncertain if the municipality's offices situated at 373 Pretorius Street will be up and running on Monday after last week's disruptions following protests by workers demanding permanent job placements. The workers have also accused a director in the city's electricity depot in Centurion of using the "K" word on employees.
Tshwane mayor's spokesperson Samkelo Mgobozi, said the city was not a primary employment agency. "As a city, our position is to create opportunity of employment, we cannot employ everyone permanently. We are not sure if services at the Pretorius street building would be back to normal or not - we will see today," Mgobozi said.
South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) Tshwane region secretary Mpho Tladinyane, said last year they had a meeting with the city management to absorb the workers permanently. "The employer said that it would be finalised by the mayoral committee, but to date it has not," he said.
He denied reports that workers had held two officials hostage last week, saying the workers had merely wanted to know where they stood after learning that only about 3000 of them would be absorbed by the city. "There are about 8000 workers - if the city said they would absorb 3000, what about the others?" Tladinyane said. "The second issue that caused a stand off was the racism at the electricity depot in Centurion," he said, accusing the depot director Frank du Toit of referring to black students as baboons and employees using the 'K' word." However, Mgobozi reiterated that the city was investigating the allegations and called on people with proof to come forward.
"In a period of just two weeks, the city has experienced two disruptive and unlawful protests in regions 3 and 4, in part, because employees allege they are being racially prejudiced," Tshwane mayor, Solly Msimanga, said.
The original of this report by Ntombi Nkosi is on page 3 of The New Age of 23 January 2017
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