SAMWU Concerned by Ultimatum Given to Municipal CFOs
17 October 2014
The South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) is concerned by the ultimatum which has been given to municipal CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) by the KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube on the 16th October.
Mrs Dube-Ncube has threatened to fire municipal CFO who would have not produced required qualifications by September next year. SAMWU welcomes the MEC's initiative to increase the performances of municipalities in the area. We are however opposed to a process that would not be balanced in addressing the issue. The MEC should first tell us what plans her department has in place addressing those who have employed this people.
We cannot have a situation that is unfair and unbalanced. The CFOs applied for these posts, they duly went to interviews and were appointed. They did not wake up one morning and appoint themselves to those posts. The MEC should therefore first address the issue of appointments so we avoid a vicious cycle wherein our members will continually be dismissed unfairly and being punished for having being successful in interviews. The MEC has already identified those that should be dismissed, we also need names of those that have employed them so that we can trace action against then by the MEC. How were they employed without proper qualifications and what was the role of the appointing panel in this process?
There is a process that has been put in place for CFOs to acquire competence levels as per National Treasury regulations. The MEC can therefore not pre-empt that process by threatening dismissals even before the process itself has been completed.
Should the MEC continue with these threats, she should expect the full wrath and retaliation of municipal workers of South Africa. As an employer, the MEC should bear in mind laws governing labour in the country. Workers are protected, the LRA is clear on such issues. The MEC would then have to prove what violation was committed, unless otherwise the law was changed without our knowledge. We cannot have a situation where in the MEC would support the dismissals of workers without having have followed proper procedure.
The MEC should take into account certain factors which may lead to underperforming municipalities, in most cases it is them political principals who exacerbate the situation by using municipalities as their proxies in settling political scores. A look at the Ngaka Modiri District Municipality in the North West is a clear example of how political parties and party leaders use municipalities for their own gain. The MEC should also be careful as her threats may encourage some to register with bogus institutions in a bid to make her deadline, even worse, some may produce fake qualifications to avoid dismissals. We therefore encourage the MEC and the COGTA Minister to put in place consultative processes to address this issue.
Statement issued by Papikie Mohale, National Media Officer, SAMWU, October 18 2014
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