The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) welcomes the latest step to limit overtime payments to employees of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (NMBM) earning above the R261 000 annual salary threshold.
The decision is critical and long overdue.
This decision follows the policy directive of the Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth, who earlier this year aligned the overtime threshold with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
It is no secret that overtime in the NMBM has been widely exploited over the years.
There have been numerous cases where workers deliberately worked over weekends, instead of during the week, just to receive overtime payments. As a result, the Metro’s overtime payments easily amounted to R2 million per month – placing an unsustainable financial burden on taxpayers.
Departments have also been struggling to fill hundreds of vacant positions for years.
Instead of filling these positions, the workload of existing workers was increased, which made overtime seem like the only solution.
Moreover, there is a clear lack of control and accountability, as department heads blindly signed off on overtime without thorough monitoring.
The Freedom Front Plus is convinced that the Metro should not allow service delivery to be used as a bargaining chip.
Residents of the Metro are constantly plagued by poor service delivery, and will understand that strict measures for overtime and bonuses are necessary to ensure sustainability and proper spending of taxpayers’ money.
The Freedom Front Plus proposes that three urgent steps be taken:
Firstly, vacant positions must be filled as soon as possible; secondly, internal control measures should be implemented to strictly monitor overtime; and thirdly, department heads should be called to account for every cent approved under their supervision.
Municipal workers simply cannot be allowed to fund luxury lifestyles through uncontrolled overtime and threaten the public with poor service if their extra earnings are cut off.
The Freedom Front Plus feels it is time to close the overtime tap and ensure that the Metro’s tax money is used solely to restore sustainable service delivery.
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