The manager in the office of the mayor was served with a notice of intent to suspend him on Friday.
The charge against Mr Errol Temanie is inciting violence in the workplace. It comes after the NW405 municipality embarked on the process of filling positions within its new staff establishment.
After Ventersdorp and Tlokwe municipalities merged, a new staff establishment had to be designed. According to the Municipal Systems Act, this is the sole responsibility of the municipal manager (MM). Temanie sent out an email to everyone in the municipality stating that they should appeal their new positions if they felt hard done by.
‘Instead of placing employees, regardless of personal affections towards them, the process was used to punish some and, at the same time, reward others. It was a fairly straightforward and simple matter of placing individuals into the empty boxes that were created on the staff organogram for the municipality,’ said Temanie in the email.
According to him, some people were given positions at lower levels than before in the new staff establishment while others were promoted to positions at higher levels. In the communication, Temanie concedes that the task at hand is a mammoth one and that mistakes were bound to be made.
On the same day, he received the notice of intention to suspend, signed by the municipal manager. After receiving the letter, Temanie wrote another email Z scathing this time Z in which he speaks out against the MM for filling the post of chief of staff within the mayor’s office, the equivalent of Temanie’s job as the manager in the office of the mayor.
‘What makes this irregular is that I am still in the position and have 14 days to appeal the placement committee’s decision and that expires on Friday, 14 July 14, 2017. The policy goes on to say that, if you appeal, “the employer shall not proceed to place any employee in the disputed position within 21 days as stipulated in sub-section 11.3.5/6.”
‘I am here in this position until the appeal process has been finalised and yet the employer has already gone ahead and appointed an incumbent from 1 July 2017.’ It was for this reason that Temanie stated, as an objective fact, that the employer had ulterior motives for seeking to remove him from the workplace.
When asked for comment, Temanie only confirmed that he had sent the emails and was served with a letter of intention to suspend. He directed all other enquiries to the municipality.
According to Jeanette Tshite, municipal spokesperson, the municipality cannot elaborate on the matter as it is an ongoing process.
“It is still a very sensitive matter that we are dealing with,” she said.
