Makana Municipal Manager Moppo Mene has withdrawn his resignation. This follows a week of protests in Makhanda. Meanwhile, alliance partners the SACP and the ANC have denied tensions among their local leadership as provincial government and regional leadership stepped in.
A protest march last Friday by SAMWU and IMATU affiliated municipal workers was at least partly about who has jurisdiction over certain labour decisions in local government. It was sparked by allegations of political interference in administrative matters. The South African Municipal Workers Union said it was over such interference that Mene resigned.
Mene handed in his resignation days after Council rejected his proposed solution to wage discrepancies in the institution. Mene, as an invited member of the Local Labour Forum, was central to negotiating a deal with unions to compensate Makana employees whose jobs have not undergone formal evaluation since 2006.
Speeches and placards called for the resignation of the so-called Troika – the Mayor, Speaker and Chief Whip – of the ANC-led Council.
The Speaker’s Office is the designated petitions co-ordinator for the municipality but with Yandiswa Vara among those in the unions’ sights, Co-operative Governance MEC Xolile Nqatha dispatched the provincial department’s Rapid Response team to receive and acknowledge the petition. Cogta’s Mfundo Nzukuma signed the petition, while colleague Ron West took notes for the report-back to their boss.
‘Hands off our Municipal Manager’ is the first demand on the petition.
Mene has not answered Grocott’s Mail’s calls or emails to confirm what we’ve been told. However, a reliable source Thursday 14 November confirmed that Mene has withdrawn his resignation and is back at work.
Five notches
A report by Mene to the full Council meeting on 30 October proposed a way to compensate staff for salary discrepancies.
“In an attempt to rectify the salary irregularities of the past decade, the Local Labour Forum established a Salary Discrepancy Committee with terms of reference,” Mene explained in the report.
Mene proposed that there be no back pay for the affected employees, but that they should instead be advanced five notches within their job grades. This would be across the board, with the exception of directors, managers and previous beneficiaries.
The Local Labour Forum is an extension of the national collective bargaining arrangement in local government. Here in Makana, alongside the union representatives, it’s mostly made up of ANC councillors – Nombulelo Masome (chairperson), Luyanda Nase, Mthunzi Fatyi and Thembakazi Seyisi. New DA councillor Luvuyo Sizani is that party’s lone representative. The Municipal Manager, Grocott’s Mail understands, was attending the Forum by invitation.
In the 30 October meeting, councillors said they wanted to see figures showing the financial implications for the municipality. Mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa denied the requirement the proposal be reworked was as a result of political interference.
“We did not reject the proposal,” he said. “There was not enough meat on it and we asked him to fill in the gaps. That’s what happened.”
Other sources have claimed that pressure was put on Mene to withdraw his proposal by the ANC Subregion and that this, in fact, is where the political interference occurred.
ANC Subregion Chairperson Mabhuti Matyumza said in reply to that question: “That is not true at all. There is no way the ANC can discuss salary matters – the institution [municipality]was dealing with this.”
The salary discrepancies proposal was part of a confidential section of last Friday’s special council meeting and so the Mayor confirmed that it was discussed but did not give details.
SALGA and the MEC weigh in
MEC for Co-operative Governance Xolile Nqatha met with Makana management, unions and politicians the day before last Friday’s march.
Nqatha’s spokesperson Makhaya Komisa said, “The MEC convened a meeting with all affected stakeholders – senior management, the troika, the unions, with the aim of hearing the problem that was causing chaos in the municipality.
“A decision was taken that the matter must be returned to the council – we are still waiting to hear the outcome.”
Komisa said all parties had agreed with the Local Labour Forum’s decision of a five-notch increase.
However, this week, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) confirmed they had advised Makana that its Local Labour Forum was acting ultra vires (beyond its legislated powers) in agreeing to a five-notch increase for Makana employees.
National Media liaison, Sivuyile Mbambato, said, “SALGA can confirm that it had advised the parties concerned that the decision pertaining to salaries and wages fell under the South African Local Government Bargaining Council.”
Asked if this put SALGA in conflict with COGTA, Mbambato said, “SALGA is not aware of any existing opinions with CoGTA and therefore this question can be best answered by CoGTA.”
‘No tensions’
Both the South African Communist Party and the ANC have denied there are tensions in the alliance at a local level. SACP Deputy Chair in the Sarah Baartman Region Bongani Hanise said, “We don’t have tensions between ANC and SACP. We were approached by both IMATU and SAMWU informing us about the salary discrepancies item sent to Council for adoption.
“We were told only the ANC rejected the item, so we were requested by both unions to make an intervention. While we were still waiting for engagement with the ANC, we were informed the municipal manager had submitted his resignation letter, citing political interference. We gave the MM space to explain what happened – he is a member of the SACP.
“We listened – we pledged our support to the MM and the unions. But the matter was resolved even before our engagement with ANC.”
Hanise said the issue had been resolved already by Nqatha’s vsit on Thursday.
ANC Subregion Chair Mabhuti Matyumza said, “There is nothing on the ANC side blocking that report. The only issue was that it was not sufficient. We said councillors said must have enough information to make an informed decision. The ANC caucus agreed with the recommendations.
“Literally we don’t have tensions.”
Why the unions have a grievance
Three concurrent organograms in use in Makana Municipality led to unfair labour practice. An organogram is a diagram that shows an organisation’s structure and how the various positions link with each other. It shows who reports to whom, and how various positions are ranked in an organisation, as well as job titles, names, and areas of responsibility. (Update: there is finally a single organogram for Makana).
Job evaluation at Makana was last done in 2006, meaning some employees had been stuck in the same grades and notches for more than 12 years. The process of evaluating new jobs, and reviewing existing ones to ensure pay and grading is appropriate to the job’s duties and responsibilities should happen every three years.
SAMWU said blatant favouritism was in evidence because a few positions were hand-picked for evalution and regrading over the past decade. (Grocott’s Mail will report further on this once we have seen the relevant documentation).
Some job descriptions were enhanced, but there was no documentation showing they’d been evaluated, SAMWU said.
Makana had continued to pay some employees according to job gradings that had been abolished. For example, SAMWU Regional Secretary Wandile Duruwe said, 126 employees were absorbed on Task Grade 1. “That task grade has been abolished. No one in any other municipality is still on that task grade. They were supposed to be moved to task grade 3.”
