MAKANA Municipality is inviting members of the public to comment on the proposed outsourcing of its vehicle testing station. This follows on a request made by three employees at the traffic department.
MAKANA Municipality is inviting members of the public to comment on the proposed outsourcing of its vehicle testing station. This follows on a request made by three employees at the traffic department.
During the council’s social services committee meeting on Friday, social services director Mandisi Planga reported that an advertisement inviting comments will be printed in local newspapers soon. He said it will be posted in strategic positions in and around town and even in taxis.
"After public participation the council will then take a decision whether to outsource the service," he said. This recommendation was made by the task team which was established to investigate the matter after it was presented to the committee in March. The task team is made up of Planga and chief financial officer Jackson Ngcelwane.
After meeting with the employees in May the task team explained that if the council agrees to outsource the station, the service will have to go out on tender. If the employees’ bid is successful they will have to resign in the capacity of municipal employees as they will be paying rent for the use of the station.
An analysis for the 2004/05 and 2007/08 financial years conducted by the task team revealed that the station is not "generating enough revenue to cover its operational costs". If the station is outsourced to the three employees, the municipality promises that the employee who works at the service station will be transferred to the technical section of the traffic department.
Meanwhile, Planga reported that the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) objected to the move after he wrote to the them as well as the Independant Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) inviting comments. However, he said Imatu had not yet made a submission.
