On the payroll but otherwise unemployed
City hires Apla veterans, gives them no work
THE ETHEKWINI Municipality has been paying salaries to Azanian People’s Liberation Army Military Veterans (Apla), despite the former combatants not doing any work for the city. Apla is aligned to the Pan Africanist Congress.
ethekwini has employed veterans mostly from Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans in VIP protection services in line with national policy. The last intake was in 2015 when the city employed about 120 MK veterans.
Apla combatants felt sidelined, prompting them late last year to storm an Executive Committee meeting which was attended by ethekwini mayor and regional chairwoman, Zandile Gumede. demanding the same benefits as MK veterans. A group of 30 Apla members were then employed by the city on a contract basis. Another 60 was set to be given contracts this month. The veterans’ salaries ranged from R2 960 to R8 400 a month. But they have no job descriptions.
The Sunday Tribune has seen the payslip of a veteran who confirmed they had been paid for the past two months.
While the payslips said they were employed as general assistants, Apla members said that they did not know what work to do and who to report to.
Their contracts were on a two-month basis starting in January.
Apla veterans said they wanted to be placed in permanent positions.
It remains unclear how much the municipality has paid the veterans.
Apla veteran Thulani Mkhize said: “We meet every morning at our assembly point in the city centre and disperse when we are tired of being together. That’s all that we do every day. We do absolutely nothing.”
Another veteran, Richman Mhlongo, said he did not know what his job entailed.
“I have since decided to work near my home. I search for leaking pipes and other things that are faulty and report them to the city. Otherwise I have no idea what is required from me.”
Apla regional chairman Siya Mkhize confirmed that their veterans were being paid, despite not being placed in positions.
He urged the municipality to place Apla people in permanent positions.
“We also have families and we want to be placed in permanent posts so that we can put food on the table.”the municipality previously outsourced protection services to private sector ompanies. But it let them go and employed veterans in those positions and others.
It is believed that among the reasons for the falling out of Mayor Gumede and former city manager S’bu Sithole was that Sithole would not bow to pressure by veterans to be employed orgiven money for doing nothing.
Head of security Dumisani Bhengu declined to comment, saying he had no Apla members in his section.
He directed queries to the city’s communications team.
Mayoral spokesperson Mthunzi Gumede said he was not aware of anyone being paid for doing nothing.
It would be amiss for people to be paid when they were not doing any work. He said the mayor was in the process of establishing an office that would deal with issues of veterans.
DA ethekwini caucus leader, Zwakele Mncwango said he was unaware of the anomaly but not surprised because it was “jobs galore” at the municipality.
“The municipality has a tendency togive people jobs rather than create a conducive environment that will create jobs for the people.”
While the city received its first clean audit in 16 years in the 2015/16 financial year, Mncwango said if the current situation was not remedied ethekwini would collapse.
The IFP’S Mdu Nkosi said he was shocked that Apla members were on the payroll of the municipality because this matter was not debated in Exco.