Employees take Quantum Leap to CCMA

Lolo Madonsela

37 aggrieved Quantum Leap employees have taken their boss to CMMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration).
Last week Thursday, their case was postponed to a date yet to be confirmed by the CCMA Commissioner, who needed all parties involved to take part in the hearing.
The employees claim they have not been paid their salaries since November last year, including their bonuses and a 6,5 per cent increment which was due in July last year.
Quantum Leap has a 20-year contract with AbaQulusi Municipality to clean the areas of Vryheid, Lakeside, Bhekuzulu, eMondlo, Hlobane and Ngoje. Employees downed tools on November 25 last year.
“Because Quantum Leap says it is in court with the municipality over monies not paid, the commissioner then said he needed the municipality to also be present at the hearing, since our company claims it cannot pay us our salaries since it is owed by the municipality,” said one of the employees, Velaphi Sithole.

Also read: R800k a month, but we’re stuck with Quantum Leap

“Every time we ask for our salaries, our boss, [Hawu] Mbatha tells us he does not have money to pay us because the municipality owes him about R15-million rand and he has taken them to court.
“In November, we did not get paid and we were supposed to get our bonuses as well but we did not.
“In December, the same thing – no salaries and it’s clear even now in January we will not get paid. We had a ‘black Christmas’ because we did not have money and now in January, our children are sitting at home because we cannot pay for them to go back to school. We cannot meet their school needs; it is really bad,” added Sithole.
The employees also claimed Mbatha took all the working equipment and added they had been coming to work every day without fail.
“Every day, we are here at the depot, even though we are not working. Every day we must borrow money from people so we can be able to come to work, yet we are not getting any payment. Even the electricity has been cut by the municipality here at the depot because Quantum Leap owes them. So when we are here, we cannot use hot water nor warm up our lunch or use the fridge because there is no electricity,” added another employee, Johan Khumalo.
They further alleged they have not received safety working gear since 2017, no long service bonuses were awarded and they no longer had a pension fund.
“We joined Quantum Leap in 2003 and he stopped contributing to our pension fund in 2014. Since then we have not been contributing, because he had an agreement with [an investment company] and he was no longer making contributions regularly and sometimes not at all. Eventually, the company terminated the relationship with him.
“Even though we were paid for those contributions we made from 2003 until 2014, we still wanted to continue to have a pension fund. We asked him to sign the papers for the new pension fund he refused. At first, he said the municipality was ‘shaking him up’ so they might terminate his contract at any time. We tried again and this time he told us he did not have any money left.
“Every time we mention our grievances, he says he does not have money,” stated Khumalo.
Initially, these employees were allegedly employed by the municipality and when the municipality gave the contract over to Quantum Leap as part of the agreement, the employees were reportedly absorbed by Quantum Leap.
According to the employees, the agreement also indicated that should the municipality terminate its contract with Quantum Leap for whatever reason, or should Quantum Leap indicate it could no longer afford them, the employees would then be absorbed back into the municipality.
“We want that agreement to be fulfilled. We want the municipality to absorb us because we cannot continue with our work, since we are not getting paid and Quantum Leap has taken away the working tools. When we try to engage with the municipality to take us back, they tell us they can not because the matter between them and our employer is in court, and our employer has not made a declaration that he cannot afford us anymore. This is very frustrating for us,” continued Sithole.
The employees then gave a stern warning that they would ‘start a war’, should they find other people doing the job they were supposed to be doing.

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