Three months after the Makhado Municipality promised to pay workers for their overtime services, nothing has been done from the side of the municipality and workers are getting more and more impatient.

In an effort to come to an agreement with the municipality, workers and their representatives, namely SAMWU and IMATU, requested an urgent meeting with the top management of the municipality to address the issue of outstanding payment for overtime worked during the months of October, November and December 2011.

According to the acting municipal manager, Mr T Ralulimi, municipal workers qualify for payment of 40 hours overtime. However, more hours can also be added in times of emergency when there is a shortage of staff. Payment of those hours is calculated and paid separately.

It was heard during the meeting held on 19 January that the municipal manager, Mr Shadrack Tshikalange, had said in the earlier meeting that all available money had been used to pay the company that had tendered for the “2012 municipal diary”. That statement alone enraged the workers, who demanded to see all the diary records to verify if the bidding and awarding of the diary tender had gone according to law.

According to the chairperson for SAMWU, Mr Elvis Tlou, they then realised that malpractices had taken place during the awarding of the diary tender. Records tell that there were two bidders who competed for the tender. The first bidder had 95 points and had charged R191 280 for the entire diary service, while the second bidder had fewer points, namely 49.81 but charged R301 730 for rendering the service.  All the same, the tender was awarded to the second bidder, despite the fact that their services were too expensive and that the work they presented was shoddy, Mr Tlou stated.

“It’s funny that workers’ monies were given to an individual,” said Mr Elvis Tlou. “According to information we got, this company has been awarded the diary tender three times in succession. They always win this tender, even before they register on the municipality's database. We're now prepared to take this matter up with the big offices in the land!"

Meanwhile, SAMWU and workers called for a motion of agreement to be drafted and signed by the acting municipal manager, Mr Ralulimi. In the agrteement it was eventually stated and agreed upon that workers will get their pay of “forty (40) hours maximum, including all emergency hours, in full during the month of January 2012”.

“It’s January now and I need this money, so I can pay for my daughter’s fees at university,” said one worker in the meeting hall.

Despite the fact that the Makhado Municipality has entered into an agreement to pay the workers, disillusioned workers are calling for all municipal executive members who are involved in the tender saga and the financial administration to step down.