ATT: THE EDITOR – BUSINESS DAY
eMail:  busday@bdfm.co.za

YOUR EDITION TUESDAY 4^TH AUGUST 2015

Once again we see our government playing musical chairs with public sector employees and State owned enterprises.  As each employee is appointed another is suspended on full pay and a further one is dismissed who takes the enterprise to Court.  The governments budget consists of almost half made up in salaries.  Over and above this, over sixty million rand was spent over the past year on the suspended employees.  For some reason or other our government was unable to assess whether these suspended employees have done anything wrong and to actually take the necessary step to go to a disciplinary enquiry.  All this despite the fact that the public service has a Code of Practice enforcing disciplinary hearings to be held within 60 days.  I, as a labour lawyer often encounter governmental employees who have been on suspension much longer than the 60 days.  The worst part of all of this is that the Department of Labour, the very Department which should be enforcing the labour law has suspended over a dozen employees at a cost in excess of five million rand.  It is shocking to note that the Chief Director of Legal Services in the Department of Labour received almost three million rand whilst not working.

The private sector could never tolerate such excesses and probably not survive in the business community if they behaved in that way.  It is easy for government to do it as income tax covers all these various ills.

MICHAEL BAGRAIM