Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) temporary staff who braved the cold, working long nights and days during the national and provincial elections claim they have not been paid for their services.
Several of them are now demanding to be paid as promised ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The staff, mostly made up of unemployed youths, reached out to The Star for help as they revealed that they felt disappointed and discouraged after the commission failed to pay them in full.
Speaking anonymously, for fear of reprisals, a man aged 27 from Mafikeng in North West, expressed his disappointment citing that he needed the money to do important things.
He said he arrived at the voting station at 6am and left the next day around 8am.
He said though others have not been paid at all, he was paid R2 025 instead of R3950.
“I have worked for IEC for several years.” This is the first time I have been this disappointed. I am unemployed, it makes no sense to be taxed over R1000. The excuse they gave me was that the salary was taxed by Sars. I am so unhappy right now,” said the man.
He shared a text shared in a WhatsApp group, updating them on developments related to their salaries.
“Hi there colleagues. We are glad that you got your remuneration. We are conscious of the fact not all and sundry got what they deserve in full or at all…Sorry for any inconvenience caused. All queries will be attended to next week…Enjoy the rest of the weekend,” read the message.
Another female, whose name is also withheld, from Ekurhuleni in Gauteng said she worked for 30 hours and she was surprised last Saturday when an R719 popped into her mobile phone.
“I was at the voting station from 8am until the next day at 1pm. Hungry and tired, I expected to be paid about R2000. I was shocked when R719 landed into my account. In my group, some people have not been paid at all,” said the woman.
She shared a text message that was sent to the WhatsApp group she is a member of, which is managed by one of IEC senior staff.
“Update: payment. We are currently processing staff payments for all staff members and for all events. Few things worth noting: SARS deduction is done according to a person’s bracket. So stipend amounts won’t be the same...but ALL stipends will be taxed..We pay within 30 days and in batches every Saturday. As such, the first batch will be paid this Saturday 8th of June and the second to be paid on the 15th of June and the last 2 batches on the 22nd or 29th of June respectively.
“We are not in control of who makes it into each batch...the Finance Dept at the National Office releases all payments in batches,” read the text.
Other young people took to social media platform, TikTok to express their views regarding working for IEC.
A Gauteng-based female TikTok user (name withheld due to the law) said she arrived at the voting station at 6am and left at 5am the next day. She said she was hungry as IEC did not provide food and they were allowed few breaks.
“I was paid R720. Past 9pm I went back to read my contract, it stated that they will leave when everything is done. I have never seen something like this in my life, we were counting the ballots. They never even supplied us with food, I was hungry,” she said.
Responding to The Star IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said through a text that the staffers should go to the office that contracted them.
The Star