Overtime ‘fraud’ sinks council
WIDESPREAD: BUDGET OF R9.8M OVERSPENT BY R2.3M
Forensic audit finds nearly 25% of staff were involved.
Nearly a quarter of the employees at Merafong City Municipality on the far West Rand face possible disciplinary action for fraudulent overtime pay claims.
Widespread overtime abuse has seen the municipality overspend its budget for this purpose by more than R2 million. It budgeted R9.897 million for the 201617 financial year, but had spent R12.278 million by the end of January 2017.
Municipal spokesperson Chris Spies confirmed a forensic investigation found 323 employees were involved in the overtime fraud saga. He said the forensic report and its recommendations was adopted by the council.
But DA constituency head, Ina Cilliers, said the council had quietly swept the forensic report under the carpet.
She added that despite Merafong having a strict overtime policy stipulating that employees may not work more than three hours overtime a day or 10 hours a week, workers had racked up huge sums in overtime pay.
Spies countered, saying: “The allegation of the DA is without any foundation. The steps to be implemented were contained in the report on the forensic audit which was adopted by council.”
The council had submitted a process plan to the Local Labour Forum to deal with the outcome of the forensic report, said Spies. “This is an important step since the number of employees implicated in the forensic report represents almost a quarter of the total staff.”
The disciplinary process had been delayed by the processing of files and charge sheets for the implicated 323 employees and the appointment of a disciplinary committee and evidence leader to deal with the matter.
Because of the 40% vacancy rate caused by a moratorium on filling vacancies, more overtime work was unavoidable to ensure continuous service delivery, especially in cases of burst water pipes and electricity outages, Spies claimed. He said the next steps would be determined by feedback from the process plan underway.