The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has learnt that the cleaners and gardeners at Noordgesig Sisulu Centre in Soweto have not been paid their salaries for two months.
The cleaners and gardeners claim that they were employed to work at Noordgesig Sisulu Centre at the beginning of the national lockdown, however they were not given any contracts of employment.
They were last paid their salaries in June; therefore, they have not been paid for July and August.
They are also scared to complain because they fear losing their jobs as they have been unemployed for a long time.
These employees are unable to go to the Labour Department to complain because they do not have any contracts of employment.
It is sad because these employees have families who are dependent on their salaries for survival.
The DA condemns in strongest terms any form of ill-treatment of workers and we believe that it is the responsibility of any employer to provide their employee with a contract of employment which will bind both parties in terms of ensuring that salaries are paid within the stipulated timeframes and to ensure that the employee does the work accordingly.
We call on the Gauteng Social Development MEC, Nomathemba Mokgethi to intervene as a matter of urgency to ensure that these employees are paid their outstanding two month salaries. The MEC should also initiate an investigation to ascertain why these employees have not been paid their salaries for two months and why they were hired without any contract of employment.