Pretoria – Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni has assured members of the public that the department will do everything in its power to ensure minimal interruptions during a march tomorrow at its head office in Pretoria.
Members of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) have threatened to march to the department’s head office to voice their concerns about non-overtime payment to staff members working on Saturdays.
Addressing the media in Pretoria on Thursday, Apleni explained that the dispute emanates from a 2005 instruction by Cabinet to open frontline offices on Saturdays.
According to Apleni, it has been 11 years to date since the department introduced the system of operating frontline offices on Saturdays.
“The purpose was to ensure better service delivery to the public and to afford members of the public who do not have access to our offices during the week, an opportunity to access our offices on Saturdays," he said.
He explained that when the new system of working on Saturdays was introduced, the officials were paid overtime but due to the department’s financial constraints, payment of overtime for employees working on Saturdays was no longer financially sustainable.
“The dispute with labour arose when the system of overtime payment to officials working on Saturdays was discontinued due to financial constraints and a new operational shift system was introduced,” Apleni said.
In a bid to resolve the matter, the department and the unions engaged extensively and the matter was referred to the General Public Service Sectoral Bargaining Council (GPSSBC), the Labour Court, the Labour Appeal Court and now the matter is pending before the Constitutional Court.
According to Apleni, the department and the unions agreed to engage in a mediation process to seek ways of finding an amicable resolution whilst the matter is still pending before the Constitutional Court.
“The department wishes to advise the public that the actions of NUPSAW may lead to a situation where services of the department may be interrupted, although the department will do everything in its power to ensure minimal interruptions.
“We have been honest with ourselves and also with the unions about our challenges, and we are now sharing with the public the difficult terrain which Home Affairs has to navigate. We can only hope for a resolution which does not compromise the hard work we have done, and we will continue to update the public accordingly,” he said.
In order to continue to provide services to the public on Saturdays, the department decided to introduce a new shift system for Civic Services front office clerks which would ensure that employees still work a 40 hour week including Saturdays in line with the country’s labour laws, including the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. – SAnews.gov.za
