Tshwane contractors demand their jobs back

More than 200 former employees from Capacity working for the Tshwane municipality marched to Tshwane House yesterday to hand over a memorandum demanding back their jobs.

The group of contract workers, who claim they have been unfairly dismissed last year, took to the streets and marched from Kgosi Mampuru Street to Tshwane House where they waited until they were addressed by officials.

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Given Miso from Hammanskraal said he started working for the city of Tshwane under Capacity as a general worker in November 2019, only for his contract to expire a year later.

The contractors were allegedly meant to be reappointed but, instead, were cut off financially without any warning.

“We want our jobs back. By law, we should have got a letter to inform us but they just cut our salaries. We have not been working for seven months,” Miso said.

The father of two children said he was unable to apply for a grant because, according to the system, he was a permanent city worker.

The contractors handed over the memorandum with a list of demands that included being reinstated in their positions and being reimbursed for the loss of income in the past seven months.

Sylvester Phokoje, acting mayor and MMC for the department of corporate and shared services, addressed the contract workers outside Tshwane House, where he signed and received the memorandum and said it would be looked into immediately.

A group of angry women contractors described the past months of unemployment as painful.

“I have four children who depend on me for an income,” said a woman who agreed to speak anonymously.

She added her child grant was stopped because she was also registered on the system as a permanent city worker, despite sitting at home without employment.

“We want our jobs back and the backlog in salaries,” she added.

“The contractors said they came to Tshwane House in January to get answers but were removed by police using “rubber bullets”.

The leader of the contractors, Cedric Cele, said they discovered yesterday the city has mistaken them for outsourced workers.

marizkac@citizen.co.za