They thought Christmas had arrived early when their
employer "blessed" them with salaries 10 days before payday.
But when the Nkomazi municipality in Malalane, Mpumalanga,
realised the mistake, it told its 1,073 employees that they would not be paid
again at the end of the month.
The workers rebelled, shutting down water supply for a day
to the towns and villages the municipality services.
The municipality buckled under pressure and paid them on
October 25.
But then the municipality wanted its money back and imposed
a 20% salary deduction over seven months in an attempt to recoup the R13m it
had irregularly spent on salaries on October 15.
The workers were having none of it, saying they regarded
the first payments in the month of October as "a gift" from the
employer.
The Nkomazi municipality said it was all one big
"mistake" and insisted that the money should be paid back.
They thought Christmas had arrived early when their
employer "blessed" them with salaries 10 days before payday.
But when the Nkomazi municipality in Malalane, Mpumalanga,
realised the mistake, it told its 1,073 employees that they would not be paid
again at the end of the month.
The workers rebelled, shutting down water supply for a day
to the towns and villages the municipality services.
The municipality buckled under pressure and paid them on
October 25.
But then the municipality wanted its money back and imposed
a 20% salary deduction over seven months in an attempt to recoup the R13m it
had irregularly spent on salaries on October 15.
The workers were having none of it, saying they regarded
the first payments in the month of October as "a gift" from the
employer.
The Nkomazi municipality said it was all one big
"mistake" and insisted that the money should be paid back.
"For me paying back the money will not happen, I get
paid R13,000 and one deduction from my account will leave me and my family out
of money to survive.
"I think the municipality should investigate and find
out why we were paid before payday.
"For us this was a gift, that's all," said an
employee who didn't want to be named.
South African Municipality Workers Union chairperson in the
Nkomazi municipality, Vusi Mpofu, said the matter must be investigated
independently of the council and that negotiations would then have to take
place with employees on how much they can afford to pay.
"Firstly, employees get paid on the 25th of each month
and here we have a municipality paying people on the 15th.
"The municipality can't give loans and we don't know
how this can be explained so we seek a forensic investigation by an independent
person or firm because we can't have councillors doing that...
"Our members don't earn that much and paying back the
money will be a problem...," said Mpofu. Sowetan
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