Beach guards not paid for two months

TWENTY lifeguards who protected the beaches in Port St Johns, Nyandeni and Ingquza municipalities during the festive season’s busy months of December and January have still not been paid.

They are threatening to stop working.

Dispatch spoke to officials in charge of the lifeguards and all pointed fingers at the finance and human resources department.

Yesterday, the Dispatch called Port St Johns mayor Lindelwa Rulobile, who seemed surprised about the issue.

She promised to find out what was happening. Later she said she could not get hold of the relevant officials and promised she would follow up on the matter.

But on hearing this, PSJ lifeguard Sivuyile Dayimani said the mayor was one of the first people they approached to say their wages were not being paid.

The lifeguards, who started work on Wild Coast beaches on November 25, said problems started when they requested to get paid their R3 500 salary on December 15 prior to Christmas.

They said municipal officials kept promising but their wages went unpaid.

PSJ lifeguard Sivuyile Dayimani said that when they threatened to not pitch for work, the PSJ municipality reassured them that they would be paid on December 31.

The municipality called a meeting with all the lifeguards in the O R Tambo district on December 30.

“We thought the meeting was about our salaries, but to our surprise, our payment was not even mentioned. Instead we were told we had to work extra hours on January 1,” said Dayimani.

On January 23, Dayimani said the guards called Babalwa Nkosiyane, head of the coastal safety programme, which falls under community services in the O R Tambo district municipality.

She said the matter was not in her hands and she had “done her prospect and submitted documents to the finance department”.

The lifeguards then went to the O R Tambo finance department, where they spoke to the manager, a “Mr Wellem” who promised the matter would be sorted out.

Mziwoxolo Qwalane, the PSJ supervisor and lifeguard monitor, said there were “a few” lifeguards who had gone to the finance department to query the matter.

Qwalane said that he too had been trying make calls and follow up on the matter without success.

“I have not been getting through to anyone in management. Babalwa [Nkosiyane] told me the same thing – that she has submitted documents to the finance department.

“I also spoke to one of the supervisors that I work with and he said the lifeguards would be paid about two weeks ago, and that has still not happened.”

Nkosiyane told the Dispatch the human resources (HR) and finance department dealt with payments.

“My department only deals with the administration work. Lifeguards were recruited as early as August and we handed over all documents to human resources.

“O R Tambo promised that lifeguards would be paid in late December or early January latest. I have been working throughout December and the festive season and took leave on January 9. I am shocked to hear that they have still not been paid,” she said. — Qaqambam@dispatch.co.za