Municipal workers claim victimisation

THE Drakenstein Municipality has admitted that some of its employees have made claims of victimisation over issues of promotions and job mobility.

Municipal spokesperson Riana Geldenhuys said: “The municipality can confirm that its employees have made claims of victimisation due to a number of issues that were raised, namely the filling of vacancies, abolishment of posts, and restructuring of the organisation.”

She said the municipality reviews its organisational structure annually and submits the review to council for approval.

“Further to this, we are also following a job efficiency programme where internal staff are offered opportunities to enhance their work skills and develop their career path.”

The admission came as the municipality rejected accusations of maladministration made by a group of contractors who claimed to have been wrongly dismissed.

The contractors had staged a noisy protest outside the municipal offices on Monday while demanding to see municipal manager Johan Leibbrandt, before eventually handing over their memorandum of grievances to be delivered to him.

They claimed that their services had been illegally terminated by the council and insisted that the termination had come about because they had made complaints against the management of the municipality.

Yesterday, Geldenhuys confirmed that Leibbrandt had received the memorandum but condemned the contractors for alleging that their services had been terminated.

She said: “The municipality earlier took a decision, in terms of cost containment and expenditure management, that functions such as grass cutting, painting of buildings, road marking and more will be performed in-house.”

Geldenhuys said Drakenstein Municipality had the technical skills and available artisans and grasscutting operators to perform these functions.