eThekwini’s R725k DSW December sick leave bill enough to make you ill

Sick leave taken in December by employees in the eThekwini municipality’s department of solid waste cost the department more than R725,000. 

DA councillor Mzamo Billy on Wednesday said he had written to the head of the department, Raymond Rampersad, the deputy city manager responsible for this cluster, Sbusiso Makhanya, and the acting city manager Musa Mbhele for an explanation for the significant increase in sick leave in December, as well as the exorbitant overtime payment of R14m in November.

According to a report on the department's performance and monitoring for December, the cost of sick leave almost doubled for the month.

The report, which TimesLIVE has seen, said that sick leave in November last year cost just over R412,000. A month later it shot up to R725,625.

The report did not state the number of employees that were off sick in December.

The report suggested there was abuse of sick leave as it recommended that line managers remind staff not to take sick leave unnecessarily and to monitor sick leave taken on Mondays, Fridays and paydays.

“The report concedes that there is a possibility that sick leave may be open to abuse. This is totally unacceptable as it could be the reason for the increased need for overtime. We have therefore asked for the reasons for the overtime, how is it funded and the plans to curb this behaviour and ensure that the crucial work of keeping the city clean is done during normal working hours to save the taxpayers’ money that should be used on other projects,” Billy said.

He said the exorbitant overtime pay was “completely unacceptable, irregular and simply unjustifiable”.

“It is common knowledge that the cleansing and solid waste unit continues to experience ongoing challenges which include vehicle shortages, limited landfill sites and non-distribution and collection of black and orange refuse bags. This report shows that a disappointing 15.74% of black bags were delivered in December. It is evident that this money used for overtime can be better used to enhance other priorities.

“It is also indisputable that this additional spending hasn’t changed the fact that service delivery and waste collection remains a huge problem for the residents of the city. Instead of ensuring that the city is clean, the overtime system seeks to foster a flawed incentive structure which is clearly bloating the cost of keeping the city clean,” Billy said.

Meanwhile, DSW staff had embarked on an illegal strike since Monday.

“We can confirm the illegal strike by some of our DSW workers is still under way, however the city has issued them with a final ultimatum to the effect that if they do not report for duty, the city will be left with no choice but to commence with the internal disciplinary processes,” said municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela.

He said the DSW manager was “a very good representative of the employer, and that being principled pitted him against some of the employees who want to abuse overtime”.

“We are appealing to our residents residing in the areas affected to keep their rubbish in their yards, while the city is trying to source the service from other depots that are not on strike. The city sincerely apologises for the inconvenience and it would like to assure the public that there will be consequences for all employees that have embarked on this illicit industrial action,” he said.

TimesLIVE