HELP US: Protesters who are employed either part-time or by outsourcing companies hold placards and chant slogans across from the Wool Exchange building in Military Road to back their call for help from mayor Danny Jordaan and fellow councillors. Picture: EUGENE COETZEE
TWO groups of contract workers protested outside the Nelson Mandela Bay council chambers yesterday, pleading with the municipality to hire them permanently.
About 30 of the 50 protesters were people working as ward councillors’ assistants or cleaners. The rest were water meter readers employed by a company contracted to the city.
They waved placards and chanted outside the old Wool Exchange building where a council meeting was being held.
Some of the placards read: “Stop outsourcing”, “Danny you must listen to us”, and “15 years in contract need replacement”.
Themba Kusana, a cleaner at the Ward 20 councillor’s office, said they were hoping mayor Danny Jordaan would listen.
“We are here because of the conditions of our employment. We don’t receive any benefits,” Kusana said.
“I’ve been a cleaner at the Ward 20 office for eight years. We don’t receive any annual bonuses or benefits.
“In December last year, we signed contracts stating that we would not be entitled to any benefits,” Kusana said.
An assistant from the Ward 27 councillor’s office, Zoliswa Dlula, said some workers had been on contract for the past 15 years.
“Our councillors know everything, but there is nothing they can do,” Dlula said.
“We wrote a letter to the mayor in January to express our distress, but we have not received any response.”
Jordaan’s chief of staff, Mlungisi Ncame, said the complaints had been referred to chief whip Litho Suka’s office.
“The chief whip had another meeting with the representatives of the group today [yesterday] and they agreed on next steps to resolve the issues raised,” Ncame said.
Acting corporate services head Vuyo Zitumane said councillors’ assistants were hired to help councillors deal with complaints and, at times, political matters in their wards.
“There is a close relationship between the councillor and his or her assistant,” Zitumane said.
“For this reason, all newly elected councillors have the opportunity to appoint councillor assistants for the duration of their political reign.
“These contracts are therefore fixed-term contracts up to a maximum of five years or earlier if the councillor is no longer holding the office for whatever reason.
“Due to the nature of the contracts, this entitles them to a basic salary and benefits as prescribed in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, [like] leave and sick leave.”
But the conditions could improve in future, Zitumane said.
About the water meter readers, Zitumane said the municipality did not have any contractual obligation to them.
Meanwhile, methods that “will not promote outsourcing but insourcing” were being developed, Zitumane said.
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