'Our offices feel like a graveyard' - City of Joburg staff nervous about change in administration

The mood is sombre at the offices of the City of Johannesburg in Braamfontein as the possibility of job losses began to sink in among a number of staff members attached to politicians.

On Monday‚ Joburg metro city manager Trevor Fowler has called a meeting of staff members whose future city employment is likely to be affected by the change in administration‚ a source told TMG Digital.

Support staff attached to politicians may lose their jobs if another political party takes over the city. Theses include political advisors to the members of the mayoral committee‚ stakeholder advisors and staff in the mayor’s office.

“The mood in this place is down. This place feels like a graveyard because nobody knows what will the [coalition] negotiations bring for us here‚” said the source.

Another source said the speaker of council‚ councillor Constance Bapela‚ was seen packing and removing her belongings from her office‚ which fuelled suspicions that things are likely to change in the country’s economic hub.

Meanwhile‚ in Ekurhuleni‚ the country’s manufacturing hub‚ negotiations were continuing ahead of the city’s inaugural council meeting on Friday.

Democratic Alliance mayoral candidate Ghaleb Cachalia sent a very strong WhatsApp message to all party ward councillors for the city’s council meeting.

The message read: “Please note‚ the Council meeting on the 19th is the single most important meeting for this caucus and our party. It is at this meeting that you will vote for who you want to be mayor and we need EVERY SINGLE VOTE from our caucus to be cast in favour of our candidate.

As a consequence NO leave will be considered or granted…Your disciplined vote has two possible outcomes - a DA mayor and government in Ekurhuleni or a minority ANC government which we will be able to hold to real account (with numbers). It’s a proud moment and we will all be there to share in it.

We have asked all opposition members to be there in numbers as well so we can ensure a vote that removes the ANC from office. Thank you again‚ for all your hard work which has brought us to this historic juncture. Ghaleb.”