Over half a billion spent on overtime at ELM
Residents do not have their refuse collected on time. In some areas, taps have run dry, and the roads are in terrible condition.
SEDIBENG. – Over half a billion has been spent on employees’ overtime by the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), yet service delivery has collapsed, and its residents continue to suffer.
This was revealed by Kingsol Chabalala, Democratic Alliance Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL) who is also the DA Constituency Head- Emfuleni North.
According to a written reply to the Democratic Alliance (DA) questions from the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), MEC Mzi Khumalo, R537 876 300 has been spent by ELM on employees’ overtime. During the hard lockdown times, R102 696 271 was spent during the 2020/2021 financial year, and R124 489 336 was spent during the 2021/2022 financial year.
Chabalala said that the MEC claims that the workers who were paid overtime helped to improve service delivery to residents because they work in the Water Care Works, Electrical, and Water and Sanitation departments.
“Residents do not have their refuse collected on time. In some areas, taps have run dry, and the roads are in terrible condition, filled with potholes and sewage that runs through the streets and piles of rubbish. This money, wasted on overtime, could have been used to pay Rand Water and Eskom, who have attached the municipality’s account due to non-payment,” said Chabalala.
In response, the ELM, through its spokesperson, Makhosonke Sangweni, said that the numbers shared are not aggregated correctly and are not of one financial year as it’s purported. He added that like (in) all institutions overtime(s) are paid to all deserving and hardworking employees, obviously with controls in place to avoid abuse.
“Accordingly you can tell that this is not about extracting facts from fiction in the interests of the people of Emfuleni but more of a ‘Media Campaign’ with the intention to achieve political mileage, you know we are in that season of electioneering a process that does not lie in responsibility of the administration,” Sangweni said.
Sangweni further requested political parties in the council to focus on improving the lives of the people of Emfuleni and commit to service as constitutionally required.
“Lastly, with all the challenges we have, Emfuleni continues to give various services across all communities as best as they possibly can and room for improvement will always be a possibility.”
