Members of Parliament WANT answers to reports that they are being paid huge amounts of money by suspended government employees.
Groups including the DA and the EFF, want the Minister of Public Works and Administration, King Mzamo Buthelezi, to explain the reports that these workers are paid R800 million, per year.
The Parliamentary committee wants Buthelezi to explain what he called the exploitation of taxpayers’ money.
The DA said that they have written to the Chairman of the Parliamentary committee, because they want Buthelezi to explain in detail about the money.
It complained that a lot of money is being spent by the government to pay suspended workers when their cases are not resolved quickly.
“It is not a small matter that there are 674 suspended workers who have stayed for more than 90 days, their cases have not been resolved. They continue to be paid,” said the DA.
The DA wants to know why the settlement of labor cases is being encouraged, and that a plan has been presented to try to recover this money that is spent every year.
“We also want to know what the government departments are doing to reduce the time that the suspended workers stay at home. The people of this country need necessities and there are workers who stay at home to make ends meet.”
And the EFF said that it wants an explanation immediately from these workers because there is a lot of wasted money, it is paid to people who stay at home for years and get free wages.
The Chairman of the department’s committee in Parliament, Mr. Jan de Villiers, said they are concerned about these reports of people being paid in rural areas.
He said the lack of quick resolution of the cases indicates that there is no leadership in the different departments.
“We want Buthelezi to explain to us the reasons why he is not speeding up the resolution of the cases against the workers. We want him to show us the figures of those who have been suspended but continue to earn. The fact that they continue to earn increases the money paid to workers in this country,” he said.
He said that those who are found guilty should be taken into custody and return the money they earned while staying at home.
“We don’t want taxpayers’ money to be exploited by people who fail to do their job in the government. We also don’t want workers to be disciplined without following all the laws of the country. We will not fold our hands when we see things not being carried out properly.”