Durban - The eThekwini municipality has
promised contract metro officers they will be given permanent
appointments by the end of the year.
"All contract workers who have
been working for the municipality for over two years will be
converted to full time employees by December 1," municipal
manager Sbu Sithole said outside the Durban City Hall on Thursday.
The hundreds of metro officers gathered
there did not respond well to the announcement.
They complained that the municipality
had promised to convert them to full time employees by July 1.
On Tuesday, the Mercury reported that
metro police had gone on the rampage in the Durban city centre.
They were demanding that contract
workers be permanently appointed, and wanted metro boss Eugene Nzama
removed.
The officers reportedly blocked roads,
barged into the administration offices and threatened to burn down
the city hall if their demands were not met.
They also toyi-toyied, banged on taxis
and stopped cars from driving in Dr Pixley kaSeme Street.
Mayor James Nxumalo said the
municipality would permanently employ about 2500 of its contract
employees, including metro police.
Nxumalo said Sithole would manage the
process to ensure all metro police grievances were met.
Sithole promised those contract workers
over the age of 35 that they would also be given the opportunity to
train to become fully-fledged officers.
"There is no one who will not be
provided with the opportunity to go on training," he said.
Sithole told the metro police the
municipality was dealing with the Nzama issue, but he could not talk
about it.
"Not long from now, we will
release a report which will address how we can bring stability in the
metro police," Sithole said.
Nzama was put on special leave in July
after metro officers went on strike. The metro police were not happy
with his management style.
Disaster management head Vincent
Ngubane replaced Nzama.
Nzama approached the Durban Labour
Court to challenge his special leave and resumed his duties before
his special leave ended.
SA Municipal Workers' Union regional
secretary Nhlanhla Nyandeni appealed to the city to honour the date
it had give the officers.
Nyandeni said the municipality should
give the union a monthly progress report on issues it had raised.
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