The EFF in the Mangaung Metro in the Free State has called on the municipality to address the excessive overtime bills. The party says for years overtime has been exceeding the salary bill, creating a situation where workers’ overtime payments exceeded their salaries.

This follows a legal dispute between workers and the Mangaung Metro where more than 30 workers have been suspended over the implementation of a shift system.

Samwu says proper consultation was not done and the Labour Court ordered the Mangaung Metro to restore the workers’ conditions of employment.

EFF Mangaung Chairperson, Gopolang Lipale, says the overtime bill cannot be equivalent to the salary bill.

“The overtime bill cannot be equivalent to the salary bill, which is what the Auditor General has always been complaining about. We’ve been asking the municipality in terms of job creation … they’ve been saying to us we don’t have money, but now if the worker is getting R1,000 for example and he’s getting overtime of R20,000, what are you saying? Are you saying that you are now hindering two jobs for one person? We are saying create jobs for youth and I know that people are talking about that implementation. We’ve been talking about this thing, in the past administration, even the current administration,” says Lipale.