PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Out of Bitou Municipality's roughly 600 employees, about 60 are on a list awaiting disciplinary action, according to a letter sent to members by the Plettenberg Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association.
Chairperson Steve Pattinson said the association had served a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) request on Bitou Municipality for information on disciplinary actions last August, to ensure accountability within the municipality.
"Although we still have not received all the information we requested, we have enough to report back on," Pattinson told members.
The charges against the about 60 municipal employees awaiting disciplinary action include drunk on the job, fraud, theft, robbery, kidnapping, absenteeism, insubordination and bullying.
"The long-standing issues of poor management and the seemingly unending list of disciplinary cases has a cost, not only in terms of lost work output but lack of recovery, which is an essential part of accountability and consequence management," Pattinson said.
"If fraud is discovered and they get caught, then the system demands that it is paid back."
He said from what the ratepayers association can glean, in the last few years Bitou has spent R2,5m on employees put on suspension with full pay, awaiting their hearing.
"Add to that the cost of lost work time, the cost of fraudulent actions and theft, the cost of unlawful dismissals and golden handshakes, and it runs into tens of millions of rand. I met with Acting Municipal Manager [Dr Ralph] Links recently and he assured me it is his intent to work through the disciplinary matters as a priority to stabilise his management team, but it is a difficult process due to SA's onerous labour laws," he said.
"Employees are dismissed, allowed to appeal the decisions, and if successful, are reinstated into their same jobs. Employees are suspended on full pay, wait months for a disciplinary hearing, then resign on the day of the hearing to avoid the sanction on their record, while having earned their salary for the whole period."
He said the association has asked the municipality how much they have recovered in fraud from employees, and how much they have written off as unrecoverable.
"We expect there has been limited to no recovery, but will let you know if we receive an amount," said Pattinson.
According to Pattinson, the lack of leadership and management disciplines, poor hiring and selection processes - due in no small measure to political interference - coupled with a shocking history of not holding people accountable, all results in an organisation fraught with waste, inefficiency and fraud.
"Worst of all, it adversely affects those who want to work hard and develop their careers."
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