The Makana Municipal Council sat on Wednesday 12 March to discuss, among other things, the issue of municipal workers working too much overtime and the consequent overspending on wages.
The Makana Municipal Council sat on Wednesday 12 March to discuss, among other things, the issue of municipal workers working too much overtime and the consequent overspending on wages.
In Mayor Zamuxolo Peter’s opening address, he spoke about the growing amount of overtime being claimed by workers in Makana.
“There should be consequences for those who do not do their work,” he said. “I expect them to be punctual.”
The issue is that some workers are working beyond their normal working hours.
This means that there is more money being spent on municipal wages than budgeted for.
A report from the office of the Acting Municipal Manager, Mandisi Planga, to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) details the exact figures from the last six months.
According to the report, “the municipality on average pays about R684 473 per month on overtime”.
Some employees are paid between 60% – 130% overtime on a monthly basis.
Several councillors picked up on the issue throughout the meeting, indicating that it is something they are taking seriously.
Councillor Julie Wells, who is the chairperson of MPAC, said that MPAC would look into the issue.
One suggestion was to bring labour unions into the discussion.
It is thought that many workers are doing their daily work in overtime hours, meaning that they are not doing extra work – they are doing their allotted amount, but at a different time and for a different wage.
Labour unions would be able to speak for the workers and present their concerns to MPAC.
There was a general consensus in the meeting that overtime should not be paid in wages, but by granting leave to workers.
The municipality has already spent double the budgeted amount on overtime for the financial year, and although Planga announced on 19 March that they had cut this expenditure by 24% this year, overtime remains one of the chief reasons for the municipality’s financial problems.
Councillor Les Reynolds suggested that “the level of service needs to drop”.
Workers should leave things until the morning instead of going out late at night to fix things such as broken lights.
However, important issues like electricity lines being down would still be fixed as they happen.
