Johannesburg - The DA in the City of Joburg has accused the previous ANC administration of having illegally gratified their political staff with permanent jobs in gross breach of the law.
This was the assertion made by the Executive Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse following allegations by a union and the affected employees that the municipality was allegedly purging them unlawfully.
Phalatse was briefing the media about the employment of 130 staff members who were on fixed term contracts since the ANC took over the City of Joburg’s administration in October 2019, following the resignation of then DA mayor, Herman Mashaba.
According to Phalatse, the ANC under then late mayor Geoff Makhubo converted the fixed term contracts into permanent employment in February 2020.
She also said a similar decision was taken on October 19, 2021 when the mayor was the late Jolidee Matongo. Phalatse said an unsigned conversion letter was adopted by the then mayoral committee. She said this was an unlawful gratification of employment.
“With 130 personnel imposed on political offices and the City’s salary bill at a cost of at least R80 million per annum, we had to regularise these appointments in line with the original terms of employment. We suspect that there could be more irregular appointments.
“The responsible actions of the multi-party government must signal to all 36 000 of the City’s employees, regardless of rank or affiliation, that we are prioritising good governance in order to accelerate service delivery,” Phalatse said.
She emphasised that the City of Joburg was under a new administration and that other parties should respect the outcomes of the local government elections.
“We have deliberately, up until this point, held off on commenting on the matter before us, because we were bound by internal processes, which have subsequently been completed, barring one or two steps. It would have, therefore, been premature and out of step with good governance practices for the multi-party government to place the facts on the table, while those processes were ongoing,” she said.
Phalatse said it was now in the public interest that they correct the posturing of those who have run to the media to contaminate the truth by politicising, and even racialising, what was in fact an administrative and regulatory matter.
“The multi-party government’s report, adopted in council through a resolution, which rescinded the previous mayoral committee’s decision to illegally convert the fixed-term contracts of senior managers and Caucus Support Staff in private or political offices is in line with the principle and practice of good governance – a priority we will not compromise on.
“It is important to stress that we are talking about political staff, and not the administrative staff of the City. This is a detail that has been omitted in the reporting and analysis over the last few days.
“What do we mean when we talk about a private office or a political office?
She said these could be defined as the offices that support seven different types of political principals of the City, namely: Office of the Executive Mayor, Office of the Speaker, Chief Whips, Deputy Chief Whips, Chairperson of Chairpersons Office, Leader of the Opposition’s Office, and Offices of the MMCs and Political Party Caucus Support Staff.
“These are offices that are tied to an electoral outcome or mandate, and so too are the political staff that support them. These include, but not limited to, the Chief of Staff, Special and Strategic Advisers, Personal Assistants, Spokespersons, and the like, who are recruited for employment on a fixed-term contract linked to the term of office of the elected politician.
“Equally, in the event that the political principal is prematurely ousted or steps down, their staff also follow, as was the case when the former Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba was succeeded by the late Executive Mayor, Geoff Makhubo,” Phalatse said.
She said this was an accepted and duly legislated practice applied across the world, because a political strategy and programme that was driven by personnel who do not share the same values as the government of the day would have far reaching implications for good governance and service delivery objectives as mandated by the electoral outcome.
Political Bureau