The South African Municipal Workers Union has accused the department of abusing the public by requiring applicants to undergo medical tests costing R250 before being short-listed.
“[The department] attracted nearly 30 000 applicants and they had to pay up to R250 per person but those people were not even on the shortlist,” union spokesman Jack Mokalapa said.
Mokalapa said the selection process was “an abuse of the public and the poor in particular”.
According to Mokalapa, it had emerged that the 50 positions had been earmarked for selected people and the recruitment process was merely to “camouflage the underhanded agenda”, thereby creating the impression that there was transparency in the way appointments were made.
He added that the union had approached the Public Protector to probe possible corruption in the selection process.
City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the union’s claims were “unfortunate and misleading”.
“The selection process, due to the nature of the job, entailed medical examinations, matric and a driver’s licence. The assessment for candidate suitability is highly physical and includes, but is not limited to, a 5.2 km run as well as a thorough physical assessment by the South African Police Service’s Fitness Unit,” Modingoane explained.
He maintained the city council’s recruitment process was conducted in an open and transparent manner and attracted 28 189 applicants.
He said 50 recruits had been accepted for training.
I’m lukin 4 a job