People who have been working voluntarily at the call centre for between five and eight years, complained that they have been overlooked for the positions, in favour of candidates who paid R5 000 to secure the interview.
The metro received in the region of 100 000 applications for the positions and has since outsourced the recruitment services.
Before the positions were advertised, there were about 30 volunteer workers at the call centre.
“We have the qualifications and experience, but we didn’t even make it to the short listing for interviews,” said one volunteer worker.
Others claimed that some candidates without matric were short-listed after they paid R5 000.
“But they were removed from the list after a Samwu shop steward intervened,” said the volunteer.
The metro denied this, saying that no one has been short-listed who did not meet the requirements and “thus no one was removed from the list”.
“All applicants, including call centre volunteers who met the requirements of the job have been short-listed and interviewed for the position,” said metro acting spokesperson Lebogang Ramashala.
The metro ignored our question on why the volunteers, who claim to have the right qualifications and more than five years experience at the call centre, were allowed to work at the centre for such a long time, in the first place, if they were not good enough.
Ramashala urged all those who have information about the bribery allegations to report the matter to the SAPS, to “allow the law to take its course”.
We also asked the metro if the recruitment process was fair and transparent, based on their observations.
“All who applied were and will be handled in accordance to the recruitment and selection policy of the municipality,” said Ramashala.
The City Times further asked Ramashala what steps would be taken should it emerge that there was corruption involved.
“Appropriate action in terms of applicable council policies will be implemented and the law will take its course,” she said.
The metro advertised 250 call centre posts last September, in order to improve the quality of service, but it is not yet clear when the appointments will be made.
Mayor Mondli Gungubele explained that the process will increase the call centre operations seats for operators from 10 per shift to 60.
Reporting anything to the call centre has, for a long time, been nerve-wracking to many residents, and the overall call centre service has been described as “appalling”.
